Quarterly 4 · 2006

German Films Quarterly 4 · 2006

DIRECTORS’ PORTRAITS: Dagmar Hirtz & Christoph Schlingensief

PRODUCER’S PORTRAIT: TAG/TRAUM Film

ACTRESS WITH A PASSION: Imogen Kogge

FESTIVAL PORTRAIT: 40 Years of Hof – The Home of Films

SPECIAL REPORT: Writing for the Screen german films quarterly 4/2006

focus on 4 WRITING FOR THE SCREEN

directors’ portraits 8 THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY A portrait of Dagmar Hirtz 10 THE ANIMATOR A portrait of Christoph Schlingensief

producers’ portrait 12 WHAT A DAY FOR A DAYDREAM A portrait of TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion

actress’ portrait 14 ACTING WITH PASSION A portrait of Imogen Kogge

festival portrait 16 HOME OF FILMS A portrait of the Hof International Film Festival

18 news

in production 24 AM ENDE KOMMEN TOURISTEN Robert Thalheim 25 DIE ANRUFERIN Felix Randau 25 AUFBRUCH DER FILMEMACHER Dominik Wessely, Laurens Straub 26 AUTOPILOTEN Bastian Guenther 27 BEAUTIFUL BITCH Theo Martin Krieger 28 DU BIST NICHT ALLEIN Bernd Boehlich 28 EINE ETWAS ANDERE FAMILIE Marc Meyer 29 EIN FALL FUER FREUNDE … WIE ALLES BEGANN Tony Loeser, Jesper Moeller 30 HAENDE WEG VON MISSISSIPPI Detlev Buck 31 HERR BELLO Ben Verbong 32 MONDKALB Sylke Enders 32 STUBE 54 Granz Henman 33 WEN DER BERG RUFT Tamara Staudt new german films 36 7 ZWERGE – DER WALD IST NICHT GENUG 7 DWARVES – THE WOOD IS NOT ENOUGH Sven Unterwaldt 37 AUFTAUCHEN AMOUR FOU Felicitas Korn 38 THE BIG SELLOUT Florian Opitz 39 BUMMM! – DEINE FAMILIE, DEIN SCHLACHTFELD BUMMM! – YOUR FAMILY, THE BATTLEFIELD Alain Gsponer 40 CELEBRATION OF FLIGHT: THE DREAM OF A PILOT Lara Juliette Sanders 41 COUSIN COUSINE COUSINS Maria Mohr 42 EIN SOMMER LANG ONE LONG SUMMER Steffi Niederzoll 43 EIN FREUND VON MIR A FRIEND OF MINE Sebastian Schipper 44 HUI BUH – DAS SCHLOSSGESPENST HUI BUH – THE GOOFY GHOST Sebastian Niemann 45 KEIN PLATZ FUER GEROLD NO ROOM FOR GEROLD Daniel Nocke 46 DIE KOENIGE DER NUTZHOLZGEWINNUNG LUMBER KINGS Matthias Keilich 47 LEBEN MIT HANNAH LIVING WITH HANNAH Erica von Moeller 48 LOSERS AND WINNERS Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken 49 TKKG – DAS GEHEIMNIS UM DIE RAETSELHAFTE MIND-MACHINE TKKG AND THE MYSTERIOUS MIND MACHINE Tomy Wigand 50 TOD IN DER SIEDLUNG Torsten C. Fischer 51 WER FRUEHER STIRBT IST LAENGER TOT GRAVE DECISIONS Marcus H. Rosenmueller 52 WO IST FRED? WHERE IS FRED? Anno Saul 53 ZEIT OHNE ELTERN TIME WITHOUT PARENTS Celia Rothmund

57 film exporters

59 foreign representatives · imprint WRITING FOR THE SCREEN

Dr. Christina Kallas is a writer-producer and the president of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE), which unites 9000 screenwriters and 21 writers’ guilds across Europe and is currently growing at phenomenal speed to involve Eastern European screenwriters too. She is a member of the board of the Screenwriters Guild of Germany (VDD), a member of the German and of the European Film Academy. She is also the artistic director of the Balkan Fund, the script development fund within the framework of the Thessaloniki Film Festival (which was fundamental in the development of the 2006 Golden Bear winner Grbavica) and a member of the screenplay funding commission of the German Federal Film Board. Kallas has been teaching Screenwriting since 1998 at the German Film & Television Academy in Berlin and since 2004 also at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is the author of three books: European Co- Productions in Film and Television (Nomos Verlag, 1992), The Art of Invention and Narration in the Cinema (Nefeli, Athens 2006) and Creative Screenwriting. An Attempt at a Method (UVK 2007, working title). As the president of the FSE, Kallas is chairing a Conference on European Screenwriting in association with the European Film Academy, the Robert Bosch Foundation and CNC-funded Balkan Fund in November 2006 at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, aiming to tackle all the following issues and their implications for screenwriters.

German Films Quarterly spoke with Christina Kallas about screenwriting in Germany and Europe. Dr. Christina Kallas (photo courtesy Christina Kallas ofDr. VDD)

WHAT IS THE SITUATION FOR SCREENWRITERS IN GERMANY? WOULD YOU SAY THAT GERMANY HAS Now, there are times when things go perfectly well, but often by the A HEALTHY SCREENWRITING SECTOR? time you have gone through four co-producers, two commissioning editors and a couple of directors (especially the ones who do not stay At the moment it is tough for screenwriters, that’s for sure. There in the film after all) the screenplay will be better in some ways but also was a short period when Germany had started developing something lacking originality – and often miles away from what the screenwriter like a healthy screenwriting sector in TV, but this is now also over. initially wanted to write. A screenplay is still considered as something There are several reasons for that – to name just a few: cheap pro- formable, something on which everybody can and should lay their gramming like reality shows and the predominance of the audience hands – screenplays are notably still referred to as “blueprints” which percentage quotas even on public TV, which leaves no room for try- is even less than the architectural layout or design. With the result, ing things out. The cinema situation is the same as in the whole of however, that most writers with self-esteem will soon move on to Europe: no screenwriter can live from writing for the cinema alone. write novels or direct – which is the profession which attracts all the attention and respect in the film business, in Germany but also in Europe in general. As Robert McKee says in an interview (Dennis Eick, DO YOU THINK WRITING TALENT IS BEING RE- Drehbuchtheorien, UVK 2006) “You don’t teach them, you don’t pay COGNIZED AND REACHING THE SCREEN, OR DOES them, you don’t respect them!” He adds that if he were a screen- THE SYSTEM STIFLE ORIGINALITY? writer in Germany, he too would rather write novels. german films quarterly focus on writing for the screen

4 · 2006 4 DO YOU THINK THAT SCREENPLAY DEVELOP- whether national or European, should trust the talent more than they MENT HAS BEEN PROFESSIONALIZED IN THE LAST do now. For instance, there are very few subsidies who allow for the DECADE OR SO? screenwriters to apply. The German Federal Film Board is one of them. But most of the rest, nationally as well as internationally, think There is a certain degree of professionalization, this is true. For one that the involvement of a producer can guarantee that the project is thing, screenwriting has been included in the curriculae of the film made. This is just not true and where it is, it does not necessarily schools and academies. And there are a lot of screenwriting seminars, mean that the project should have been produced as it is. It is defi- and some of them are excellent. But what has happened is that we nitely time to review this practice. have also imported the re-write practice of the American film industry. A producer who respects himself fires and hires writers as part of his job during development. People seem to think that this is the DOES THE WRITER GET ENOUGH POWER IN THE secret of success of the American films. Well, I don’t believe that this PROCESS, OR IS IT A CONSTANT STRUGGLE? is true and there is enough evidence to the contrary. The excellent screenplays, such as those by Charlie Kaufman or Guillermo Arriaga, The situation has certainly improved and is constantly improving as do not go through that process. Besides, such practice is contrary to writers such as Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovitch, Adaptation, the European moral rights tradition. The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind), Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) or Andres Germany was one of the first countries together with France which Tomas Jensen (Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Mifune, Open Hearts, recognized moral rights as rights of creators of copyrighted works Brothers), to name a European, give new rise to the idea of the screen- and fought to include them in the Berne Convention for the Protection of writer as the auteur and creative generator of cinematic product. Literary and Artistic Works in 1928. Now this tradition is destroyed Taking into account the double character of the screenplay, there are through the back door. I personally believe we got something con- signs of increased respect both for the role of the screenwriter in film fused here. A screenwriter does need help in development and it is production as well as for screenwriting as the literary form of the 21st good to discuss scripts. But there are professionals who know what century – but there is also definitely a long way to go. The time is right they’re doing and who can help without stifling the originality of a though and we may soon be looking at film history in a different way screenplay: They are called script consultants or dramaturges or story than the auteur theory has lead us to do in the last few decades. I like editors and they are mostly colleague screenwriters: again, some of to think of Kaufman, Arriaga and Jensen as the pioneers of a new era them are very good. Rewriting is a difficult business as in any other for screenwriters and not as the big exception. literary form, while half-education (which is the dark side of the many, often too short, workshops which have literally flooded Europe in the last decade) is sometimes more dangerous than helpful. BUT ISN’T A FILM MOSTLY THE WORK OF A DIRECTOR?

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE MOST EXCITING WORK No! The director is often considered as “the primary creator in a COMING FROM? collaborative process.“ This sounds like a paradox to me. The cult of personality and the romantic ideal of the genius, which are the basis Screenwriting requires the creativity of a storyteller and the craft of of auteurism go against the collaborative nature of the cinema. both the dramatist and the filmmaker. Many writers who have tried Nobody gains anything from this silly insistence on auteurism – to the both find screenwriting more challenging than writing novels or other contrary a lot of very good screenwriters flee their craft because they narrative fiction. The most exciting work comes from writers who do not get enough respect for their work. Billy Wilder and Preston have understood this and who love the medium for what it is and not Sturges became directors to protect their screenplays. Since then as an intermediate stage to directing or novel writing. And who man- many others have followed. But funnily enough we have come to look age and/or are lucky enough to stand in there and keep their voice at them as directors who write their own screenplays rather than the and vision. This is still extremely difficult to do but it will get better as other way around! the times are changing. The notion that screenwriters are artistically legitimate is hardly a new one, but it’s been out of fashion for quite a while. And it also partly lacked arguments whenever the high cost fac- IS TEAM WRITING WITH THE DIRECTOR THEN tor was brought up. Which is no longer the case, as we are in the THE BEST SOLUTION? middle of a big “turning point” connected with digitalization and its consequences both for film production and for distribution. This is the approach which is being preferred at the moment in most European countries, for example France. But what does it mean? A director also works together with the DoP, does he ask to share his ARE PRODUCERS BECOMING BETTER AT credit? Where the director is also a writer, it is very difficult for the IDENTIFYING QUALITY WRITING, AND DE- screenwriter, as he is basically serving the director’s vision – and it is VELOPING IT CAREFULLY? not always the best for the screenplay. Team writing is as difficult and problematic in screenwriting as in any other form of writing. Another There are certainly producers around who are extremely knowledge- big European problem, totally ignored at the moment, is that there able and valuable partners for a screenwriter. But even they do not are almost no spec scripts written here. A solution may be that have the time and funds to be able to stand in as long as it takes. A screenplays are published just like theater plays. It is also very producer in Europe usually only makes money when a film goes into possible that in the future screenplays will be filmed more than once production and the date of production often has more to do with (a sort of simultaneous remake), which will change our perception of financing than with having a finished screenplay. Which means that a the art of screenwriting completely. producer will push the project into production even when he or she knows that it needs more work. I strongly believe that the subsidies, german films quarterly focus on writing for the screen

4 · 2006 5 WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES OF THE SO WHAT ABOUT GERMAN COPYRIGHT LAW? TWO MEDIUMS (CINEMA AND TV) FOR A WRITER, THIS SEEMS TO BE A HIGH PRIORITY FOR THE AND WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS OF MOVING SCREENWRITERS’ GUILD OF GERMANY. ACROSS THEM BOTH? The German Copyright law is being modernized and adapted to the Moving across different mediums is always a problem. For instance realities of our digital age. In autumn of 2003, the first amendment to publishers don’t think highly of screenwriters, even if there are the Copyright Act (first legislative round or 1. Korb) implemented the enough facts to prove them wrong. TV writers are considered even mandatory guidelines of the EC Directive on Copyright in Information less highly than cinema writers, but on the other hand they have often Society. Those issues which are not prescribed by the EC Directive but more power and are treated with more respect. In some European are left to be regulated by the member states were reserved for the countries (as in the UK, Ireland or in the small countries like Greece) “second legislative round” (the so-called 2. Korb). Unfortunately the the audience knows the names of the TV writers more than those of interests of authors and originators were barely considered in the the TV directors. This is definitely an interesting development. But amendment, although the primary goal was, and still is, to improve Europe also needs to attract and keep its writers in the cinema. their legal position. On the contrary, our position was further undermined. The VDD is now focusing on the new planned amendments which are of great importance to screenwriters, e.g. the proposed WHAT ABOUT THE IMPROVISED FILMS? HOW grants of utilization and exploitation rights to unknown exploitation DOES THIS WORK AND WHAT ARE THE CHAL- methods, compensation for unknown exploitation methods in the LENGES? future, transitional provisions as well as film ownership rights. In these issues the legislator was clearly led by the needs of the exploiting par- This screenwriting method is very fashionable at the moment and ties. there are more new methods and practices to come (think of inter- active entertainment). But these are methods and not alternatives to screenwriting, which is not just the dialogues but, most importantly, WHAT ABOUT THE NEW EXPLOITATION MEDIA? structure and characters and thematic elements. Such methods do not eliminate the screenwriter, they make his job a bit more challen- For years there was exploitation without authorization rights of ging, which means they require even more craft and experience. utilization in the new exploitation media, particularly in the Internet, and without paying the author and originator their legally entitled fair compensation. What’s more: Screenwriters, in order to receive fair WHAT IS THE FSE AND HOW DO SUCH GUILDS compensation for the legal grant of their rights are asked to identify FUNCTION IN EUROPE? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE and locate the actual exploiting party. The other way round – for the BETWEEN GERMAN SCREENWRITERS AND OTHER exploiting party, who is regularly and generally accepted to be the EUROPEAN SCREENWRITERS? financially stronger party, to identify and locate the author – has been deemed as “too costly”! As a matter of fact, the VDD is considering Screenwriters in Europe face more or less similar problems. The FSE to have the German Supreme Court review the constitutionality of (Federation of Screenwriters in Europe) unites all the European guilds some of the provisions, especially the provisions regarding the un- – at the moment there are 21 guilds and 9000 writers. Part of what known exploitation methods and the transitional rules due to their we do is to lobby and monitor on an international level and intervene expropriating character, in the event the German Federal Parliament whenever something goes against our rights. We are also trying to passes the draft without any further revisions. This is no small issue for make the industries and the public aware of the screenwriters’ issues screenwriters. Given the rapid and far-reaching developments in digi- and raise public and professional awareness for our profession. This tal media services, it is probable that within a relatively short period year we will be organizing a big Conference on European most consumption of audiovisual material will be outside the tradi- Screenwriting, the first of its kind, which will address the status of wri- tional methods of television broadcasting. ters for the screen throughout Europe. It shall serve as an occasion and platform for the understanding and discussion of the situation of screenwriters in Europe as well as the nature and state of European YOU WERE RECENTLY INVITED TO TALK IN FRONT screenwriting, at a time when things are changing, also due to digita- OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. WHAT WAS THE lization and globalization. ISSUE THERE?

It is clear to us that the solution to the problems of the European film I was asked to present the opinion of Europe’s screenwriters at the and television industries lies in improving the conditions of writers in public hearing organized by the Committee of Culture and Education order to improve the quality of screenplays which will then improve at the European Parliament in Brussels on the proposed Audiovisual the quality of films. This is an important premise for the discussions and Media Services Directive (AMS). The hearing ran for two days and that take place in our individual countries and at European level. The included speakers from various stakeholders: broadcasters, indepen- conference will be also the first of a series of events for the VDD, the dent producers, telecommunication companies, advertisers, scientists German Guild of Screenwriters, which in 2007 will be celebrating its and consumer organizations. The aim of the event was to inform 20th birthday. We also have some intriguing plans for the upcoming members of the European Parliament of the diverse views and posi- Berlinale and for the Frankfurt Book Fair which we hope we will be tions of these stakeholders regarding the proposed directive. It is the able to realize in 2007. Our idea for the book fair is not only to get first time that writers were invited to share their views with the publishers and editors to present their upcoming novels to screen- European Parliament and we are grateful to Ruth Hieronymi, who writers (normally projects are presented to producers) but also to get extended the invitation. screenwriters to present their novel ideas to publishers. The incredible publishing success story of screenwriter Robert Loehr’s Der The focus was the contentious issue of product placement, a form of Schachautomat may be a good inspiration for attending. advertising whereby products are woven into the fabric of the film or german films quarterly focus on writing for the screen

4 · 2006 6 TV program on view. Well, placing a product in a program clearly is the combination of advertising and content. The current Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF) prohibits this combination, while the proposed Audiovisual and Media Services Directive allows product placement. A similar issue is being addressed by our colleagues in the Writers Guild of America who have organized a major campaign to try to ameliorate some of the worst effects of this kind of product placement and quote a depressingly long list of attempts by advertisers trying to change the content of program to make them more sui- table for the placement of their products.

The European Parliamentarians particularly enjoyed the suggestion used to make the problem clearer, that they include product placement in their political speeches, suggesting that this would earn money for the Parliament, thus reducing the burden on the tax payer of paying for their work. Which could mean that only the nice speeches would earn the money of the product placement while the speeches (like drama) dealing with the many difficult issues, which our societies are grappling with, will not be as attractive.

WHAT ABOUT EUROPEAN QUOTAS? WILL THEY STAY?

Well, our view as well as the view of all the creative workers in Europe is that the Audiovisual and Media Services Directive’s quotas for European works can and should be extended to non-linear audiovisual services: Given the rapid and far-reaching developments in digital media services, if such an extension of obligations were not included then the meaning and effectiveness of the Directive would be fatally undermined. But this view is not shared by many other than the crea- tives at the moment. What’s more, copyright is seen as a roadblock to digital content distribution. The value of content still needs to be fully appreciated. If it is not, it is the end of Europe. Identity is not built on money.

Further information about the Screenwriters Guild of Germany and its activities can be found at www.drehbuchautoren.de

Further information about the Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe can be found at www.scenaristes.org

german films quarterly focus on writing for the screen

4 · 2006 7 Dagmar Hirtz (photo © Julia von Vietinghoff) DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT DIRECTOR’S In the meantime, the director Hirtz, who lives inthecentralMunich In themeantime,director wholives Hirtz, one.” lonely theeditor isavery stimulating.Thejobof very experts, togetherwithactors, working withateamof the challengeof according ideas. tomy AndIfound realize contentand form astory’s workandto own independentcreative had gainedwhileeditingtomy theexperienceI the desire developed toapply ing stories. Igradually editor collaboratingwithtop-classdirectors, alotaboutstag- Ilearned A portrait of Dagmar Hirtz Dagmar A portrait of IDENTITY OF QUESTION THE prize-winning workasaneditor, todirecting years sheturned in1983aftersomany of Asked why 4 ·2006 films quarterlygerman Dagmar Hirtz Dagmar answered: “As an vision, from cinemaandtele- for films Schwabing,hasstagedeleven district of which isthebestschoolingindramaturgy.” script-doctor. experienceeditingfilms, Thathasalottodowithmy thatIamagood mind, butIdobelieve is itagain?–astorytelling call–what script onwards. what theAmericanssoaptly “Idonothave the versionof from thestory thefirst of inthedevelopment involved admits, tobe butshedoesconsideritimportant author, as sheherself disturbing subjects. Shedoesnot writetheirscripts, sheisno for ten hs im r o aet lae oeo themhandlevery are notmadetoplease;someof . Thesefilms Unerreichbare Naehe www.agentur-brandner.de email: [email protected] 96 95 02 +49-89-34 95·fax 95 02 phone +49-89-34 Clemensstrasse 17·80803Munich/Germany Agentur Brandner Contact: will bebroadcast byZDFduringthecomingyear. just finished filming filming just finished 2006.Shehas inJuly shown attheMunichFilmFestival Das Gegenteilvon Liebe Juliane including the editorresponsible films for worldasanassistantdirector andeditor.the film Shewas apprenticeship inaprocessing laboratory, sheentered MusicinMunichandan inMunich.Afterstudying today Hirtz Dagmar graphy Sie istmeineMutter Mustervater –AlleinunterKindern ’s and Volker Schloendorff Sehr’s Elser –EinerausDeutschland Maximilian Schell,andKlausMariaBrandauer’s Der Tod istkein Beweis three atotalof received Trotta, work asaneditor. ren’s film by was followed the twopublicbroadcasting channels, ARDandZDF. It for mainly television, tinual andregular German workfor Konkurrentin Moondance was herdebutasacinemadirector, by followed 2000), The SerbianGirl Bella Block –Bitterer Verdacht ( Das endloseJahr Die Bleierne Zeit Die Bleierne The Pedestrian Kiss MeFrog Schwiegermutter in 1995. Her first TV film, TVfilm, in 1995.Herfirst (1997), marked the start of Hirtz’ con- Hirtz’ (1997), marked of thestart was born inAachen1943andlives was born Ich wollte nichttoeten Unerreichbare Naehe ( Das serbische Maedchen Das serbische ( , 1981)byMargarethe von (2006), basedontheautobio- Der Fussgaenger by GiselaHeidenreich, was German FilmAwards German Homo Faber to ( Kuess mich,Frosch Ich wollte nichttoe- (1989), aswellPeter (2002), director’s portrait (2004), and (2000), thechild- Bella Block – (1991). Shehas Marianne und , 1973)by , 1990) for her for (2004). (2001), , which (1984) Georg Der Die , 8 What is her present attitude to her own works, and which of them sinking and with it the audience’s and the makers’ standards. And the does she consider the most important? And what is the place among ’cultural and educational task of public broadcasting’ is losing more them of her most recent work, Ich wollte nicht toeten? “I see and more ground. It is fatal to limit powerful expression and diversity my films critically; from a distance. And I am proud of the diversity of within the program in order to benefit quotas. I am still lucky enough their themes. The most important films for me are Moondance, to find committed editors, for whom quality continues to be more Schwiegermutter, Der Tod ist kein Beweis, Sie ist important.” meine Mutter and Ich wollte nicht toeten. In this last work, one of the themes is identity, a subject that has always interested me. What projects does the director have planned for the immediate Everyone knows the question “Who am I?” or “Where do I come future, when Ich wollte nicht toeten is complete? “Finding from?” – and this issue also defines my film Sie ist meine Mutter. niches for top-quality television films – as I have said – is not easy. We It is also important that the political background plays a decisive role are involved in the development of projects along with three authors, in both films.” but as yet we have no official commission – and so we just keep our fingers crossed.” And we will do the same for her. Hirtz’ Ich wollte nicht toeten is a film about the search for truth, about the search for one’s own history. In this sense, it also Dagmar Hirtz spoke to Thilo Wydra, independent takes up the theme of the previous film Sie ist meine Mutter. journalist (“Filmecho/Filmwoche”, “Der Tagesspiegel” etc.), Whereas that film was concerned with a Nazi past initially hidden book author, and German correspondent for the Cannes Film Festival from the members of a family, in her new work the history of the GDR represents a universal background overshadowing the individual’s life. The main character is a young, 30-year-old journalist – played by Jessica Schwarz. She is tracking down a story that ultimately turns out to be her own.

The personal story is defined by the historical. Ich wollte nicht toeten was shot in Berlin and Neu-Brandenburg, and the screenplay is by the author Frauke Hunfeld, who had already written the screenplay for Der Tod ist kein Beweis. In Hirtz’ work – and she was certainly influenced by the politically committed cinema of New German Cinema in its day – the political is also a social issue, like the mobbing of a policewoman (Der Tod ist kein Beweis), or a family therapist’s search for her own origins and her mother’s ambivalent embroilments during the era of National Socialism (Sie ist meine Mutter, screenplay by Hannah Hollinger).

The Munich-based director’s eleven films to date have always been shown at festivals at home and abroad. Her two cinema films were screened at several international festivals; Unerreichbare Naehe in Montreal, in Chicago, at the Hof International Film Festival, and at the Women’s Film Festival in the French town of Creteil in 1984. Moondance was also shown at Hof in 1994, at the Berlinale in the sidebar New German Films in 1995, and in Creteil and Jakarta. “The reactions abroad have always been very positive. Both the audiences and the organizers were open-mined and unprejudiced towards German films.”

Her television films have been shown primarily at German festivals, for example Der Tod ist kein Beweis at the Munich Film Festival in 2002, with a nomination for the TV Movie Award, or at the television festival in Baden-Baden. The most successful was the children’s film Kiss Me Frog, which received the award for Best Direction at the Golden Sparrow Festival in Gera, and was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Children’s and Young People’s Programming in 2001.

Asked to comment on the current production situation in German cinema and on television, Hirtz says: “I think the development of German film is extremely positive. There are various young talents, and that leads to a similar diversity of films and themes. The films are becoming more professional and more humor can be detected, as well. The state’s reaction is evidence that we have now recalled the value of German film as a cultural asset. Things look different in the world of television. Even though the German TV program still has a reputation as one of the best internationally, the quality is steadily german films quarterly director’s portrait

4 · 2006 9 Christoph Schlingensief (photo © Aino Laberenz) DIRECTOR’S PORTRAIT DIRECTOR’S otato Christoph Schlingensief A portrait of ANIMATORTHE apportionment.“ Thencamethe LichtburginOberhausenwith apportionment.“ motheredited,anideal my filmed, tub, father attheZugspitze; my double 8,children’s inthe forest, inthemountains, inthebath- films, aloton encouragementcamefrom hisparents, “whofilmed The first howtoanimate otherstoparticipate. camera, whoknew astheboywith as analtarboyathisCatholicchurch, butcertainly already possesseditasaseven-year-old, perhaps ma. Hemusthave charis- of helpers andephebicassistants, hasalsoseenthedefinition hasseenhimatwork,surrounded byadozenWhoever able-bodied 4 ·2006 films quarterlygerman Godzilla example remained for important, Buñuelhasalways old, wasahorror film.” obsession, intovitality. of horror and splatterfilms He transformed Andfilms a vitalforce.” thathateinto itandtransforming for …hatingoneself ven obsessively beingguilty, dri- without beingcapableof aspiration:tobeactive my and Das GrosseFressen and Das verbrecherische LebendesArchibaldo delaCruz Das verbrecherische Freaks Stunde imFuehrerbunker (1986); (1985/1986); Kisten sindda includes: hisfilms A selectionof Bildende Kuenstefuer Braunschweig. “Kunst inAktion“(“Art inAction”)attheHochschule of and academies, andsince2005hehasbeenaprofessor tions inFilmDesignandTechnique colleges atdifferent Nekes. teachingposi- From 1983-1986,hehaduniversity worked withFranzSeitz,GeorgTressler, andWerner Munich. Asadirector’s assistantandcameraassistant,he in History andArt Philosophy he studiedGerman, camera.From 1981-1983, withanarrow-gauge film film age,heshothisfirst years Atseven of artist. formance andtheaterdirector,a film radiodramaauthorandper- andanurse, apothecary an on24October1960inOberhausen,thesonof Born Deutsche Film Tage von Bottrop –Derletzte Neue 1992); 2000 –IntensivstationDeutschland sche Kettensaegenmassaker dramas include: has staged: andBayreuth he Burgtheater Wien,inGraz,Reykjavik, Schauspielhaus Hamburg,theZurich, 4–BigmrdnKp o dl Hitler vonAdolf 94 –BringmirdenKopf and 68 www.schlingensief.com Contact: among others. Twintowers –derRing9/11 Parsifal documenta Kassel); Deutschland Hase –48StundenUeberlebenfuer includes: hisperformances of Fuzzi ; , aswell Rosebud Berliner Republik and the ; United Trash 0 ar dl Hitler–Dieletzte 100 Jahre Adolf Der Animatograph –OdinsParsipark . HegottoknowtheAmericans Brakhage, 100 JahreCDU–SpielohneGrenzen . AttheVolksbuehne Berlin,theDeutsches Egomania –InselohneHoffnung Egomania Adalusischen Hund Adalusischen Die 120Tage vonSodom Rocky DutschkeRocky 68 (1997), tonamebutafew. Hisradio Toetet Moelleman ; (1983/1984); Bitte liebtOesterreich Christoph Schlingensief (1995/1996); and ; and Mein Filz,meinFett, mein Kaprow City , which, “for a12-year-, which,“for director’s portrait (1988); ; Tunguska –Die Lager ohneGrenzen ; and (1990); , films byOshima , films Menu Total ; Rocky DutschkeRocky Das deut- . Aselection Nazis raus Die 120 ; ; . “Thatis ; Terror Kuehnen Hamlet (1991/ (at the African is ; ; , 10 Warhol and Kenneth Anger through Werner Nekes. As he edited his The afterbirth of Dada and Surrealism is occasionally based on Luis film Menu Total, he saw David Lynch’s Eraserhead. “I was flabber- Buñuel and he could also name Artaud and Jarry. Or Oskar Panizza gasted. I had actually filmed a German, concretely chaotic, fascistic and Otto Muehl. His anarchy is organized, his organization is anarchy. Eraserhead, but sensed that Lynch was doing something else. I always He is a character like Dali and worlds away from his vanity. Nobody looked through the camera, I had a thousand scenes in my head, but can give better information about him than he, himself. He is the most not a complete film. It was a score in the 12-tone technique, although competent regarding himself. And he is someone who controls him- I only heard Schoenberg later.” self like no one else. As wild, eccentric, and crazy as he – and what he produces – may appear to be, he acts consciously. His irrationality is All of his films follow this “score“. They consist of a thousand scenes rational, his rationality irrational. Ever since a life-threatening burst and labor to be a complete film. They are fragmented like the land appendix, he thinks on a gut level and feels with his head. That is the that they came from, and which also labors to be complete. There are only way he could stay what he remains today: the boy with the no films from Germany that are as authentically German as the skew- camera. ed, kaput, screeching, tasteless ones in Schlingensief ’s Deutscher Trilogie – 100 Jahre Adolf Hitler: far ahead of Der Untergang Peter W. Jansen (author, film journalist, film critic, publicist) and the psychogram of the fascist bourgeoisie that has gone wild. spoke with Christoph Schlingensief Das Deutsche Kettensaegemassaker: with the slaughter of the people from the GDR after the borders have fallen, the prophecy of the sell-out and spoilage of an entire society. Terror 2000: the hostage drama of Germany, sensational and xenophobic.

That he discovered “animatographs“ himself was logically consistent and the extension of the soul to the technique. Because his soul is full of fear of blindness (a disease that runs in his family). “I can still see, but I am already thinking of the darkness. I therefore also work under the motto: no movement without darkness. And that comes from the history of the cinema. Even with 18 frames per second, the picture seems to flow, but one still senses this flickering, this instability. I am unstable. At some point it goes black, and then I move into an empty space, into the world of pictures, there, where they melt together. I work at the point of this fusion. Therefore I also fuse some things together in thought which others do not want to fuse.“

There can hardly be a more accurate analysis of and rationale behind the animatographs, that revolving stage on which the arrangement of booth-like segments show partial aspects of singular stories or sensa- tions which the spectator must piece together. But at the end, no spectator has seen what another has. That is the philosophy of the performance artist Kaprow, which Schlingensief makes concrete and tangible, just as he made Joseph Beuys‘ rabbits tangible.

From the first film of the seven-year-old to his African excursions, the theater works, installations, and performances, one of his most prominent talents remains the ability to move others to participate, well – to inspire them. Opera singers as well as state actors, old as well as young, white and black, professionals and amateurs. Whoever wants to remain tenacious. That was always convenient for him. They simply show what actors in their roles impel: eternal childhood.

In his films as well as on the stage, he tolerates (seemingly) nothing less than professionalism. He is also very professional himself. In this way, he made dilettantism into an art form. His films only portray wrong connections; his arrangement in the theater, no sequence of scenes. There is only the presence of the eccentric presentation. His aesthetic is chaos, his homeland is Absurdistan. He puts the fuse on each powder keg and sparks fly, but it is always lust that wins; lust is the surplus value of his fury.

Each new film is also a different film. Because new landscapes put a spell on his imagination again and again, because the torrent of his associations is the powerful Niagara, or because another exaggera- tion antagonizes him or another injustice or another political corrup- tion sends him into a rage.

german films quarterly director’s portrait

4 · 2006 11 PRODUCER’S PORTRAIT which won the International Film Critics’ First Prize in Cannes in 1993; The Sunset Boys (1995) with Robert Mitchum and directed by Leidulv Risan; dffb graduate Tamara Staudt’s feature debut Swetlana (1999); two features by Iain Dilthey: Das Verlangen (The Longing, 2002), which was awarded the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 2002, and Prisoners (Gefangene, 2006), again in competition at Locarno this year; and Isabelle Stever’s Gisela, winner of the Crossing Europe Award in Linz and the Best Film Award at the Baltic Debuts Film Festival in Russia’s Svetlogorsk this year. In addition, TAG/TRAUM has produced TV movies such as the Adolf Grimme Award-winning drama Gefaehrliche Freundin (1996) by Hermine Huntgeburth and Das letzte Versteck by Pierre Koralnik, the Regenbogenprinz TV series for children as well as magazine programs (such as the cult program Freistil – Mitteilungen aus der Wirklichkeit) and experimental films. In the field of documentaries, the company has produced such films as Martin Zawadzki’s Adolf Grimme Award-winner Isolator II and Heidi Specogna’s The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez, which premiered at Sundance in January and has invita- tions to several festivals this autumn. TAG/TRAUM also served as co-producer on Martina Kudlacek’s In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2002) and Samir’s Forget Baghdad (2002). Another international co-production, Arunas Matelis’ documentary Before Flying Back to Earth was awarded the Golden Dove at the 2005 Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animation Film and has since picked up top prizes at festivals in Parnu, Brooklyn, Amsterdam, Madrid and Zagreb as well as being named the Best Lithuanian Film of 2005 and receiving the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Award. In the 1980s, Haag taught at the German Film & Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin and has lectured at the Inter- national Film School Cologne (IFS) since 2004. For many years, he

Gerd Haag (photo courtesyGerd of TAG/TRAUM) also served as a board member of Spielfilm NRW, an association of feature film producers in the German state of North Rhine- Gerd Haag and his company TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion Westphalia. have been producing feature and documentary films for over 25 years. Among them were the internationally successful feature films Contact: TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG The Engine (Die Lok, 1991), a children’s feature film directed by Weyerstrasse 88 · 50676 Cologne/Germany Haag which was awarded the Blue Elephant in 1992 and the Golden phone +49-2 21-65 02 59 00 · fax +49-2 21-23 38 94 Sparrow in 1993; Child Murders (1992) directed by Ildikó Szabó, email: info@tagtraum.de · www.tagtraum.de WHAT A DAY FOR A DAYDREAM A portrait of TAG/TRAUM Filmproduktion

"The company’s name has to do with both spheres of filmmaking – Haag and Schmitt had worked for the public broadcaster WDR in the day-to-day and dreams," is how Gerd Haag explains the choice Cologne in the 1970s at a politically charged time when the so-called of the name TAG/TRAUM for the Cologne-based production com- "Arbeiterfilm" [worker’s film] was promoted by the channel’s company he established at the end of the 1970s with Thomas Schmitt. missioning editors. "I worked for two years with Klaus Wildenhahn on "This refers to a quote by Ernst Bloch where he says that it is in one’s making documentaries and these experiences had a great formative daydreams that the relationship of reality to the soul is at its most influence on me," Haag recalls. "This period of new beginnings was immediate because you don’t have any control there anymore." extremely important for my development." However, when the sta-

german films quarterly producer’s portrait

4 · 2006 12 tion indicated that it wanted to put them on the pay roll as salaried national co-productions such as the Leidulv Risan’s The Sunset staff, they decided instead to take the plunge and set up shop with Boys, starring veteran Hollywood actor Robert Mitchum, or the their own production company, TAG/TRAUM Filmpro- documentaries In The Mirror of Maya Deren by Martina duktion. Kudlacek and Forget Baghdad by Samir. But the company has also kept a look out for foreign partners to board its own in-house pro- Both partners were writer-directors, with Schmitt (who left the com- jects. "It has mainly been in the German-speaking area, although I have pany in 2004) continuing later to work as a director on documentary also worked with Canada, Italy, Scandinavia, France, Benelux and now portraits, in particular, long after Haag had decided to concentrate his Lithuania," Haag comments. "I would like to do more, but I know that energies on producing at the company. you don’t build up a relationship through just one project, you have to do a couple of projects together before you have that trust. I have Haag sees himself very much though in the role of a creative produ- to be sure that the way I love the projects and want to see them cer when working with directors: "That’s what I like most of all, to realized is also something that is shared by my production partner." develop projects and bring creative team members together to work on a regular basis, like I have done now with Iain Dilthey on two films, A fruitful working relationship has now developed, for example, with Heidi Specogna, Isabelle Stever and others. I am attracted by the between TAG/TRAUM and the Austrian production house idea of accompanying people and seeing how they develop creative- FISCHERFILM. Markus Fischer was a partner for Haag on Iain ly and I feel a great responsibility as a producer. I like concentrating Dilthey’s Locarno competition film Prisoners and attracted backing my work on young directors and their first feature films: this is a spe- from the Austrian RTR Television Fund for the project which was cial challenge for me because, in the debut films of young directors, partly shot at locations in Vienna. one is often presented with very personal subjects and the talent is also clearly visible, but often not yet polished. However, the chal- The two are now in preparations for an ambitious TV project, the six- lenge of looking at life in this world with cinematic means is always part series We Europeans! which is a journey back through six intensive and that actually stimulates my own view of filmmaking." centuries – the 15th to 20th centuries – to illustrate how our common history has created common values. Each of the six episodes In his opinion, the relationship between the producer and director focuses on one European achievement. Ideas which still characterize should be "based on a mutual understanding. It is not a case of European policy, our consciousness and actions today: individualism, someone saying: ’I want this or I want that’ or people fighting with capitalism, peace, freedom and the nation are the stuff Europe is one another, but rather that everyone is pulling in the same direction. made of. In the sixth episode, there is a summing up of what the 20th The work with Iain or Heidi is a real pleasure because I can see that century has done with this legacy. WDR, MDR, ARTE and ORF are there is something here where I can contribute, where they believe in onboard as broadcaster partners. me, and I can believe in them." Haag expects that next year will be largely taken up with this project "What I am definitely trying to do is to get the audience to realize that which is described in its promotional material as "a glossy history for- there are people behind the projects who have a particular point of mat of international caliber...consisting of documentary and re-enact- view, that they want to express something," Haag says. "This is impor- ed parts", but hopes that production might also begin in 2007 on Iain tant for us – whether it be a human issue or a political subject – in Dilthey’s next feature project, Meeresrand, an adaptation of the order to say something about the state of the world." French novel Bord de mer by Véronique Olmi. A decision has not yet been made as to whether the film might be shot predominantly with Over the years, TAG/TRAUM has achieved an eclectic production French actors, but a start was made by attracting interest from a mix of feature films, feature documentaries and other formats for French production partner – Dominique Crevecoeur of Bandoneon television: "Our capacity at the company allows us to handle 1-2 fea- – after Haag pitched the project at last year’s Rendez-vous franco- ture films a year – but, as a rule, it is one production – while we will allemands du cinéma in Cologne. work on 2-3 documentaries that have potential for the cinema, and the rest – 10-15 projects – are programs for television on cultural and Gerd Haag spoke with Martin Blaney historical topics and current affairs," Haag notes.

Last year, for example, the company completed the documentaries Before Flying Back to Earth by Lithuanian filmmaker Arunas Matelis, Udo Vieth’s Beckhams Zahl, Basile Sallustio’s Maca – Die Wunderpflanze mit Potenz, two episodes of Die Zwanziger Jahre by Heidi Wilke and Florian von Stetten, Monika Siegfried-Hagenow’s Die Enkel der Gelatieri, Antonio Cascais’ Heimatreport and Lutz Gregor’s Frankfurt Dance Cuts, while 2004 saw the production of portraits of Martin Luther King (by Claus Bredenbrock and Pagonis Pagonakis) and Artur Brauner (by Gisela Anna Stuempel) as well as contributions to ARTE theme eve- nings (Peter Kremski’s essay Ueberraschende Begegnungen der kurzen Art and Donatello and Fosco Dubini’s documentary Heisse Ware – Die Kurzfilmtage zwischen Ost und West, and Monika Kirschner’s Der Tag, der alles aenderte).

TAG/TRAUM has also served as the German partner for inter-

german films quarterly producer’s portrait

4 · 2006 13 Imogen Kogge (photo © Friedrun Reinhold) ACTRESS’ PORTRAIT ACTRESS’ I really enjoyed inamateurdrama- I really wasdramaashad beeninvolved trainingIcoulddo, thing theonly of “When Ithoughtaboutwhatkind it withpassion.” becausethemainthing wasthatoneshoulddo whether ithadafuture maxim thatoneshoulddowhat enjoyed. soimportant Itwasn’t knowwhatIshoulddo.really home,though,there Inmy wasthe andcinemathisyear.work intelevision “After highschool,Ididn’t an who received quitetheopposite,”recalls actressan actress. theBerlin-born “Infact, ImogenKogge’s tobecome beenachildhooddreamIt hadnever of ImogenKogge A portrait of ACTING · 2006 4 films quarterlygerman dl GrimmeAward Adolf and German FilmAward German WITH for her for Bochum toworkwithClausPeymann. years aseasontotheSchauspielhaus before movingonfor stayed five Schauspielhaus inHamburgunder Niels-Peter Rudolph,where she engagementatthe enjoyable” years hercraft before herfirst learning but derKuenste) “intensive, Universitaet inBerlinandhadfour She appliedandwasacceptedby the HochschulederKuenste (now thingsthatweren’t connectedwiththehead.” oneself, carry howtospeakand comed thechancetodosomethingelse.Learning tics atschool,”shecontinues. “And Ijustwel- afterallthatlearning, email: [email protected] ·www.agenturfloeter.de +49-89-54290645 phone +49-89-54290592·fax 23g·80469Munich/Germany Fraunhoferstrasse Agentur Sibylle Floeter Contact: Thieves Prietzel’s 1999TVfilm inClaudia Performing heroutstandingactingperformance for Arts 110 JohannaHerzintheARDseries 2001 asthepolicedetective Kogge hasalsoappeared TVmoviesandbeencastsince inseveral category of Best Supporting Actress BestSupporting atthisyear’s of category Bluthochzeit 2005), DominiqueDeruddere’s (2005). Her portrayal in (2005). Herportrayal Wagner, 2000), Award who believes she is possessed by demons earned hera sheispossessedbydemonsearned who believes 2002 and 2004. Her other films include: 2002 and2004.Herotherfilms Madame Butterfly Berlin, andhastriedherhandatdirecting opera– derKuenste BuschSchuleandtheUniversitaet in Salzburg, Ernst son. Shehasalsobeenavisitinglecturer attheMozarteum in ensemble attheSchauspielhausinBochumsince2005/2006sea- the Berlin, amongothers, memberof andshehasbeenapermanent andtheRenaissance-Theaterin Zurich, theStaatstheaterinStuttgart in productions atBerlin’s Theater, MaximGorki theSchauspielhausin vision, Kogge returns toherroots regularly inthetheater, appearing thecinemaand tele- by Andreas Alongsideherworkfor Kleinert. ( asAndreas Dresen’scinema, withroles insuchfilms the theSchaubuehneshebeganasecondcareer for leaving working directors asPeter Stein,KlausMichaelGrueberandAndrea Breth. On withsuchimportant Schaubuehne atLehninerPlatzinBerlin,working the theensembleof memberof 1985 to1997,shewasapermanent Schauspielhaus inHamburgandtheBochum.From Imogen Kogge from theHochschulederKuensteAfter graduating inBerlin, Nachtgestalten . Shewasawarded the this year the for ( PASSION Koenig derDiebe , 2005)andHans-ChristianSchmid’s Holz – attheNationaleReisoperainNetherlands received her first engagementsattheDeutsches herfirst received , 1998),Til Schweiger’s oierf110 Polizeiruf Requiem (dir: NicolaiRohde,1999),and (dir: Schande Special Prize , dir: IvanFila,2004). , dir: The Wedding Party ftemte fayoung woman themotherof of episode and received an and received of the German Academy for Academy theGerman of Anna Wunder Kleine Frau Barefoot German FilmAwards German actress’ portrait Nightshapes dl Grimme Adolf Ariodante Requiem ( Lola Barfuss King of , directed (dir: Ulla (dir: Polizeiruf in the ( Die and . , 14 In 1985, she was then engaged by Luc Bondy to become a member cinematographer] shot long takes with a hand-held camera and so, in of the ensemble at the Schaubuehne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin and effect, it was staged as if we were in the theater. The scenes were pre- stayed there for twelve years, working with some of the leading direc- pared, there were rehearsals, one or two takes and that was it. In tors such as Peter Stein, Klaus Michael Grueber and Andrea Breth. spite of the tight shooting schedule he always had that calmness to She appeared in Stein’s productions of Chekov’s Three Sisters and The explain something or rehearse it once more.” Cherry Orchard, was cast as Madame Lenglumé in Grueber’s staging of Labiche’s La Affaire Rue de Lourcine and as Charis in Kleist’s After the premiere during the Berlinale in February, Kogge was back Amphytrion, while the work with Andrea Breth opened up other arti- in the spotlight in May when she was nominated in the category of stic horizons with roles in Schnitzler’s Der einsame Weg or Ibsen’s Best Supporting Actress for the German Film Awards and was then Hedda Gabler. awarded one of film’s many prizes at the awards ceremony. “I was overjoyed and quite surprised that I had won after I saw who else had Apart from appearing in Gabrielle Baur’s children’s film Die been nominated because it was a strong cinema year,” she says, poin- Bettkoenigin in 1994 and taking a role in a Tatort episode in 1996, ting out that the recognition from her peers in the Deutsche Kogge did not make any forays into film and television during her time Filmakademie was “very satisfying”. And as she said in her thank-you at the Schaubuehne. “I remember people asked me, but it never speech after receiving the statuette, “the fact that one should get such worked out time-wise,” she recalls. “My colleague Uli Matthes always a nice prize for such an austere figure who doesn’t exactly command seemed to manage to combine his work for the stage with film roles, one’s sympathy, that is great!” but I didn’t have a name at that time. When I made the film with Gabrielle, we shot it during the theater holidays.” Imogen Kogge spoke with Martin Blaney

Her career opened to work in the other media, though, when she left the Schaubuehne and engaged an agent to represent her. “It was quite a change from the stage to being in front of the camera. I was initially too intense using all of my body and energy,” she observes. “One works much more independently as an actor on the stage and that’s something I constantly need to feel although I also like to work in front of a camera. Film is a bit like a puzzle – you can start at the beginning or in the middle and slowly the pieces come together – whereas on the stage you are able to make a creative and formative contribution over the course of the whole evening. That is the difference.”

While the theater still is very much where she sees her home as an actress – she has appeared on the stage in Salzburg, Zurich, Berlin, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Bochum since leaving the Schaubuehne – Kogge nevertheless welcomed the chance to take on roles for television “which allowed me to build up some experience of working with the camera” with appearances in such popular TV series as Bella Block or Sperling.

In addition, she has become better known to German television viewers since 2001 thanks to the role of the Brandenburg-based police detective Johanna Herz in the ARD series Polizeiruf 110. Her performance in the episode Kleine Frau by Andreas Kleinert brought her an Adolf Grimme Award this year.

While she has been quite busy working for television, Kogge has only occasionally been cast for roles in the cinema: she played a waitress in a champagne bar at Tegel Airport in Andreas Dresen’s Berlinale competition film Nightshapes, appeared opposite Johanna Wokalek and Til Schweiger in his romantic comedy Barefoot, and was the bridegroom’s mother in Dominique Deruddere’s black comedy The Wedding Party.

She was offered the role of the mother in Hans-Christian Schmid’s Berlinale 2006 competition film Requiem just two weeks before shooting was scheduled to begin after Burghart Klaussner (her husband in the film) recommended her to the director. “It was a very intensive style of working,” she recalls about the work on Requiem, “but I like Hans-Christian’s kind of calmness and his preciseness. He didn’t say very much, but what he said was always spot on. We rehearsed a lot and then shot very little. Bogumil [Godfredow, the

german films quarterly actress’ portrait

4 · 2006 15 Heinz Badewitz (photo courtesy of Hofer Filmtage) FESTIVAL PORTRAIT ed, I made enquiries to other Munich filmmakers, to see if they could they toseeif ed, ImadeenquiriestootherMunich filmmakers, wouldbepresent- withhim.Sothatmoreagreement thanthree films “We acinemaownerinhishometown, Hof. knew sooncametoan Heinz Badewitz topresent a publicforum theirresults. worksandwishedfor short theminMunich,were realizing theirfirst mostof filmmakers, German thesixties, generationof anew of the cinema.Duringsecondhalf InternationalFilmFestival Hof tourism.Butthe businesscalculationsandtoserve ed astheresult of whetherinCannes, Venice festivals, famous Many orLocarno, emerg- InternationalFilmFestival theHof A portrait of HOME OF FILMS · 2006 4 films quarterlygerman came tohisownandcolleagues’ assistance;he owes itsexistencetoaloveof had been taken out of the program, andasaresult filmmakers, the program, many had beentaken outof benefited thoseatHof;HellmuthCostard’s benefited the ”West inOberhauseninvoluntarily FilmDays” Short German thought abouthowthingswere going todevelop. year, Inthefollowing atthe timehadreally theparticipants In allprobability, notoneof ”. FilmDays, Hof Short hours–waslabeledthe”1st lastedafew only –whichactually event were delightedwiththeidea.”To the wholethinganame, give them ustheirrecent workstotake Almostallof give alongtoHof. Director: Organizer: Event Dates: Founded: www.hofer-filmtage.de email: [email protected] 68 68 23 +49-89-1 fax InternationalFilmFestival Hof Heinz Badewitz 1967 ieCne o e.V. Cine-Center Hof n fOtbrBgnigo November October/Beginningof End of Besonders wertvoll Besonders wertvoll festival portrait (1968) 16 including Badewitz, withdrew their works – deciding instead to or sections. The films have to be previously unscreened in Germany celebrate their own event in Hof. The beginning, therefore, was a and they must display cinematic quality. In recent years, an average of multiple exodus. 60 long and 40 short films have been shown. And German film has remained an emphasis. Badewitz’ general preference is for the ”in- During the early years, many a filmmaker came unannounced with a dependents”, no matter where they come from. One can search in copy of his film under one arm – and they were not turned away. ”If vain for mainstream productions from the big film industry at Hof. the organizational opportunities,” or so Badewitz believes, ”had also been available in another city at that time, for example in Munich, the Although guests include a long list of prominent directors, from Roger Hof Film Festival would never have come into being.” Corman to Neil Jordan, from Werner Herzog to Wim Wenders, Badewitz also invites young directors, for whom the festival aims to Today Badewitz is the longest serving festival director in the whole of function as a “launching pad”. And that actually works. German dis- Europe. For many years now, he has had to accept the necessity of tributors buy films in Hof, other festivals collect contributions from preliminary selection. But even today, he alone has continued to de- the program at Hof, more than 150 journalists and around 500 pro- cide which films are shown at the festival. It may seem astonishing that fessional visitors attend regularly; around 2000 articles are written he has never been in any danger of losing office, not even in the about the festival each year. On average, 40 participants represent the seventies, when ”collectives” were regarded as the remedy for every- Goethe Institute, and subsequently invite directors in Hof to present thing. He has always given filmmakers the secure feeling that the fest- their films all over the world. ival in Hof is their very own, original festival. The OSCAR-prize winner Caroline Link, who jobbed looking after festival guests at Hof during There is no competition and no prize awarded by the festival itself; the nineties, says of Badewitz: ”He invites films to participate the way instead there is a football game between the film folk and a selected a father lovingly attends to his different children.” And Wim Wenders local team. For a long time now, the match has had cult status – just regarded the name of the town as a simple abbreviation of the like the stand selling fried sausages in front of the cinema, which is ”Home of Films”. open until 4 a.m. each day. The supposed fringe activities have also played their part in ensuring that a few friends who once founded a Because a committee does not make the selection, meaning that de- festival (without the intention of really “founding” anything) have long cisions are made on the basis of the smallest common denominator, since turned into a big family that cultivates its own traditions and ritu- Hof always offers some surprises in its program. For example, the als. Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote about Badewitz: ”For many years now, he has repeatedly succeeded in presenting directors and their work who In 2006, the Hof International Film Festival is celebrating a very spe- – for incomprehensible reasons – fall through the net of selection cri- cial family occasion: for the 40th anniversary, a retrospective on the teria elsewhere. Hof provides incalculable groundwork for the writ- history of New German Cinema is being shown – with works by ing of cinematic history.” directors who first came to fame through Hof.

The festival has long since extended to five days, and the films come Hans-Guenther Pflaum (freelance journalist & writer for the from all over the world. There is only one program and no categories “Sueddeutsche Zeitung” and various radio and television broadcasters)

features television documentaries shorts

www.german-films.de

german films quarterly festival portrait

4 · 2006 17 NEWS 4/2006 Scene from “The LivesScene from of Others” (photo © Wiedemann & Berg)

“THE LIVES OF OTHERS” REPRESENTS GERMANY IN RACE FOR THE OSCAR

The independent expert jury, appointed by German Films to select the World sales agent Beta Cinema has already sold the film to 30 terri- German entry to compete for the 79th Academy Award for the Best tories, including Italy, Spain, France, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Foreign Language Film, has – under the chairmanship of Antonio Benelux, Israel, and Japan. The renowned distributor Sony Pictures Exacoustos – chosen The Lives of Others by Florian Henckel von Classics will release the film in the United States in Spring 2007. Sony Donnersmarck. also successfully marketed Good Bye, Lenin! in the U.S.

The jury on its decision: “The film intensely describes not only a chap- The Lives of Others was funded by the German Federal Film ter in the history of divided Germany, but also a man who finds his Board (FFA), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Medienboard Berlin- own life while observing the lives of others.” Brandenburg.

The production by Wiedemann & Berg Film/Munich (producers: Max The German-international co-production Black Book by Paul Wiedemann, Quirin Berg), in co-production with BR/Munich, Verhoeven (German producer: Egoli Tossell Film/Berlin) has been sel- ARTE/Strasbourg and Creado Film/Contance, was already awarded ected by a Dutch jury to represent the Netherlands in the running for with four Bavarian Film Awards prior to its official German release date the award in the same category. Further German-international co- in March 2006. Before the film was presented to international audi- productions, Grbavica by Jasmila Zbanic (German producer: ences at the Cannes Film Market, The Lives of Others scooped Noirfilm/Karlsruhe), which took home this year’s Berlinale Golden up seven German Film Awards from the German Film Academy, in- Bear for Best Film, will represent Bosnia-Herzegovina, Aki cluding for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film then Kaurismaeki’s Lights in the Dusk (German producer: Pandora celebrated its international breakthrough in Locarno, where it was Film/Cologne) will represent Finland, Dror Shaul’s drama Sweet Mud screened to over 7,000 viewers on the Piazza Grande, receiving not (German producer: Heimatfilm/Cologne) will represent Israel, Matis only enthusiastic applause, but also the festival’s Audience Award. Bize’s En la cama (German producer: CMW/Black Forest Further international festivals followed, including Telluride and Films/Berlin) will represent Chile, and Sergej Stanojkovski’s Kontakt Toronto. (German producer: busse & halberschmidt Film/Duesseldorf) will represent Macedonia in the race for the coveted award. The Lives of Others was released in Germany on 23 March 2006 and has since then posted some 1.5 million admissions (distributor: Buena Vista International/Germany).

german films quarterly news

4 · 2006 18 NORDMEDIA SHOWS THE WAY INTO THE Further information on dates, event locations and details on the DIGITAL FILM WORLD ROLL STREAM! workshops are available at www.ffhh.de.

With over 100 participants from the film and television industry, 40 German and European experts and €40 million worth of technical “FOUR MINUTES“ equipment, the Hands on HD 2006 Workshop & Network, organized IN NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES by Nordmedia in cooperation with Band Pro Munich, was a Europe-wide unique industry event. For seven days, presentations, Within the framework of the exclusive industry screenings German seminars and practical exercises in the fields of cinematography, post- Premieres for American buyers in August, German Films presented production as well as direction and film production were on the pro- Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) by Chris Kraus, which had its world pre- gram for the event’s participants. Through the support of some 40 miere at the Shanghai International Film Festival and won the festival’s renowned companies, 39 HD cameras and 15 editing boards were Jin Jue Cup for Best Film. Director Chris Kraus, leading actress Hannah also made available. Digital projections of feature and documentary Herzsprung and sales agent Dirk Schuerhoff (Beta Cinema) were on films were also shown on the big screen. A highlight of the event was hand to present this outstanding drama as a pre-Toronto event for the use of a HD helicopter and a large HD transmission vehicle, American buyers in New York’s Tribeca Cinemas and in the screening making High Definition (HD/HDTV) a new production and broad- rooms of the Director’s Guild of America in L.A. casting standard for the German film and television industries. Chris Kraus, OliverChris Kraus, (German Films), Hannah Mahrdt Herzsprung, Dirk Schuerhoff Kohlberg) (photo © Karin Hands on HD 2006 (photo courtesy of Nordmedia)

Four Minutes is the opening film of the German series KINO!2006:New Films from Germany at the Museum of Modern Art (26 October – 3 November), organized by German Films with the support of the Goethe-Institut New York and the German Consulate General New York. Four Minutes will also be screened at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles in November.

YOUNG & THRIFTY IN THE EVENING

Audiences in repertory theaters are getting younger. That is the con- clusion found in the current FFA (German Federal Film Board) study about repertory cinemas recently presented at the 6th “ROLL STREAM!“: NEW EVENT SERIES Filmkunstmesse in Leipzig: Programmkinos und ihr Publikum 2005. FOR DIGITAL FILM According to the report, 23.4% of repertory theater admissions were purchased by cinemagoers in the age group 20-29-years-old. In the In cooperation with MEDIA Desk Germany, the FilmFoerderung previous year, 30-39-year-olds were the strongest group. But the pro- Hamburg is currently preparing a new series of workshops on the grams on offer also pulled in older crowds: in 2005 almost double the topic of digital film. The series, with the title “ROLL STREAM!” is gear- amount (of the total average) of over-60s watched their films in ed toward the film industry and will cover different aspects of this repertory cinemas. The average arthouse fan was found to be around complex subject. During first event, entitled “User Instead of Viewer? 37 years of age, have less disposable income available for cinema visits The Future of Film Between Cinema, TV, Internet and Mobile”, which and prefers to go to the cinema between 8 – 10 p.m. The statistics for took place within the framework of the Filmfest Hamburg, strategy the arthouse cinemas themselves remained unchanged: as in 2004, consultant Dr. Ewald Lessing presented an overview of current media almost 12% of all screens in Germany are in arthouse theaters, with developments. Other topics in the series include a comparison of more than a quarter of which being in metropolitan cities. In relation various recording formats, lectures on digital aesthetics, different to the population of the individual states, Berlin proved to have the aspects of post-production and digital distribution, as well as the legal highest density of arthouse theaters in 2005. The study can be down- aspects of utilization levels and reports on selected productions. loaded from www.ffa.de.

german films quarterly news

4 · 2006 19 MORE TURNOVER & MARKET SHARE FOR of them was a children’s program presented by the German Institute GERMAN FILMS of Animation Film including the classic DEFA films Aschenputtel, Teddy Brumm, and Das Geburtstagsgeschenk. The German Short Film Despite the football world championship and soaring temperatures, Association (AG Kurzfilm) presented another children’s pro- the first six months of 2006 secured a significantly higher turnover and gram with more current films such as Tomcat by Tine Kluth and market share for the German film industry in comparison to the same A Slippery Tale by Susanne Seidel, and German in Shorts, a ’Best of ’ time frame in 2005. A total of 65.1 million admissions and €384.1 mil- selection of current German shorts, including Tradition by Peter lion in turnover were recorded – an increase in 7.8% and 8.9% – giving Ladkani, Tanguero by Daniel Seideneder and Hernando Tascón, the industry a more solid footing compared to the ambivalent cinema Cousins by Maria Mohr and many more. Additionally, there was year 2005. And the makings appear to be in the mix: the blockbusters a screening of the German Films’ short film program NEXT Ice Age 2 and The DaVinci Code met up to expectations, a series of GENERATION 2006. productions from the “middle field” drew in strong crowds to fill the movie theaters, and numerous German films on offer made for a positive balance. GERMAN ANIMATIONS SUCCESSFUL AT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS

At the Anima Mundi Festival in Brazil, Stefan Mueller’s Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker received the 1st Prize for Best First Film and the 3rd Prize for Best Short Film, Tomcat by Tine Kluth was awarded the 2nd Prize for Best Children’s Film and Stephan-Flint Mueller’s Bowtie Duty for Squareheads received the 3rd Prize for Best First Film. German Top-10 success in the first halfGerman Top-10 of 2006: “The Lives of Others” (photo © Wiedemann & Berg)

The crowd-pleaser Summer in Berlin, the OSCAR-nomination for Sophie Scholl – The Final Days and the Berlinale with over 50 German productions started the year off with impressive German films and Kluth) (photo © Tine “Tomcat” Scene from festival favorites, which were then complemented with The Wild Soccer Bunch 3, Wild Chicks and The Lives of Others, which has been sold all around the world and was honored with seven German Film Awards. With a market share of 19.9% and some 12.8 million admissions, German productions have reached the highest half-year mark since 1997. As for Tomcat, it also won the 2nd Prize for Best Animated Film at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Monterrey in Mexico. In the same category, Till Nowak’s Delivery was awarded the 1st Prize. However, GERMAN SHORT FILM PROGRAMS not only animations were successful there – Blackout by Maximilian IN SWEDEN Erlenwein received the 1st Prize for Best Short Fiction Film.

The Umeå International Film Festival in Sweden presented in Two German animated films were also successful at the Hiroshima September no less than four programs with German short films. One International Animation Festival in Japan. Morir de Amor by Gil Alkabetz won the Special International Jury Prize and Come on Strange by Gabriela Gruber was awarded a Special Prize.

GERMAN SHORTS AT VENICE, TORONTO AND CORK

Germany was present with two films in the short film competition

Scene from “Aschenputtel” “Aschenputtel” Scene from Corto Cortissimo of the Venice International Film Festival. Detectives by Andreas Goldstein and Rien ne va plus by Katja Pratschke and Gusztáv Hámos competed for the Corto Cortissimo Lion.

At the Toronto International Film Festival, the program Wavelengths presented the shorts Kristall by Christoph Girardet and Matthias

(photo © Deutsches Institut fuer Animationsfilm) Mueller and Swivel by Oliver Husain, while Short Cuts Canada screened

german films quarterly news

4 · 2006 20 The Double Woman by Carla B. Guttmann. There was also a special duction for Constantin Film. The €50 million budgeted period film has screening of the omnibus film Paris je t’aime with contributions by Tom already been sold to territories all over the world. And last but cer- Tykwer and Oliver Schmitz. tainly not least, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s acclaimed debut film The Lives of Others, winner of four Bavarian Film Awards, seven German Film Awards and the Audience Award at Locarno, was selected to represent Germany in the 2007 OSCAR-race for Best Foreign Language Film. This of course has been a tradition in FFF’s ten year history, in which eight FFF-funded films were nominated and alto- gether five Academy Awards were won.

MFG FILMFOERDERUNG BADEN- Scene from “Rien ne va plus” Scene from WUERTTEMBERG – WWW.MFG.DE/FILM

Since October 1995, the MFG Filmfoerderung has been supporting the development and realization of culturally significant film pro- (photo © Katja Pratschke/Gusztáv Hámos) Pratschke/Gusztáv (photo © Katja jects, as well as the cinema scene in south-western Germany. The fun- der’s annual budget of some €10 million goes into the areas of screenplay development, pre-production planning, production, incentive funding, distribution and sales, film theater support and numerous structural measures.

Kristall also took part in the International Competition of the Cork International Film Festival along with Cousins by Maria Mohr, Motodrom by Joerg Wagner and Rabbit and Luck by Daniel Begun. The Slow Food section screened The Measure of Things by Sven Bohse and Cork’s Free Radicals section invited Corridors No. 2 by Tessa Knapp.

FROM INDEPENDENT TO BIG BUDGET

In summer and fall 2006, many supported films provided positive news for FFF Bayern: A “small”, explicitly Bavarian film called Grave

Decisions won the prestigious Young German Cinema Award, sponsored (photo courtesy of MFG Filmfoerderung) by the HypoVereinsbank, Bavaria Film and Bayerischer Rundfunk, and is the current sensation in the cinemas – nearly 500,000 admissions in Bavaria alone! “Warchild” Labina Mitevska in Christian Wagner’s

Particular concentration is given to the support of up-and-coming filmmakers. But the support of international co-productions is also high on the list of priorities at MFG Filmfoerderung. For example, Christian Wagner’s Warchild, which was shot in Bosnia, Slovenia, Ulm and areas around the Swabian Alb and was screened In Competition in Montreal, and Didi Danquart’s Offset (shot in Romania), which premiered in the official program of the 1st Rome Film Fest.

FIRST SUPPORT FROM THE GERMAN-POLISH CO-DEVELOPMENT FUND B. Whishaw on the set ofB. in Munich “The Perfume”

Successful supporters: G. Linder, H. Kuch and M. Burger H. Kuch Successful supporters: G. Linder, During the Polish film festival in Gdynia, the first meeting of the (BayerischeBankenFonds), Dr. K. Schaefer and N. Prediger Dr. (BayerischeBankenFonds),

(FFF) with D. Hoffman, T. Tykwer, producer B. Eichinger and B. producer Tykwer, Hoffman, T. (FFF) with D. German-Polish Co-Development Fund took place on 13 September 2006. The co-development fund was called to life by the Polish Film Institute, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung (MDM), and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

First recipients for support funds for the mutual development of In contrast to this surprise hit, a big production is also drawing in the German-Polish film projects were Andreas Knaup and Jolanten masses: On its opening weekend, 1.04 million cinemagoers went to Makosa with the producers Saxonia Media Filmproduction/Leipzig see Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of The Perfume, a Bernd Eichinger pro- and BoMedia/Warsaw for the feature film project August der Starke

german films quarterly news

4 · 2006 21 (€30,000) about the power-hungry Saxon elector and King of Poland, The German-Polish Co-Development Fund is intended to support the Friedrich August. Kornel Miglus and Anna Jadowska received €24,000 development of more co-productions between the two countries and for their project Berlin, being produced by Vacant Film- was made official during the 2006 Berlinale, when the three initiators produktion/Berlin and Koncept Media Radek Stys/Warsaw, about a signed the agreement to establish the funds. Submission deadline for young Polish woman visiting the German capital for the first time. The the next round of support funds is 1 February 2007. Application forms documentary project Kein Ort by Kerstin Nickig was awarded €15,500. are available on the websites of all three participating institutions: The film, a co-production between Time Prints/Berlin and Metro www.mdm-online.de, www.medienboard.de and www.pisf.pl. Films/Warsaw, follows a Czech family on their escape from a war. The support decisions were made by Agnieszka Odorowicz (director of the Polish Film Institute), MDM managing director Manfred Schmidt, and Kirsten Niehuus, managing director of Medienboard THE MOUNTAIN CALLS Berlin-Brandenburg. Although North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) itself doesn’t have any really high mountains, the most densely populated German state does have a few other things in common with Switzerland: just as in Duesseldorf, Zurich also has a Filmstiftung, which promotes national and international co-productions. At the beginning of September, film funders, producers and commissioning editors from NRW met with their confederate colleagues in Zurich for a first co-production meeting.

Director Mike Eschmann is currently demonstrating at the MMC Studios in Cologne how a successful cooperation between NRW and Switzerland works. After shooting in Interlaaken, Eschmann and his team traveled at the beginning of September to the Rhine River area (photo © Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg) (photo © Medienboard to finish their studio shooting for his new comedy entitled Tell. The new adaptation of the Swiss heroic saga is being produced by the Lucerne-based Zodiac Pictures and the Cologne-based MMC Independent. Agnieszka Odorowicz, Manfred Schmidt, Kirsten Niehuus Manfred Agnieszka Odorowicz, GmbH worldwide transport solutions Int. Medienspedition FILMTRANSPORTS . FIRST CLASS SERVICE ! AIRFREIGHT WORLDWIDE: EXPORT . IMPORT . WAREHOUSE INTERNATIONAL COURIERSERVICE: WORLDWIDE „DOOR TO DOOR“ TRUCKING SERVICE . OVERNIGHT FESTIVALS . FILMPRODUCTION-HANDLING

www.multi-logistics.de

Airport Offices: München Frankfurt Berlin Hamburg ( 089/97 58 07-0 ( 069/69 52 36-0 ( 030/412 20 34 ( 040/50 75 15 73 Fax 089/97 59 52 82 Fax 069/69 52 36 15 Fax 030/412 20 94 Fax 040/50 75 25 36 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] VISIONS DU RÉEL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL DOC OUTLOOK-INTERNATIONAL MARKET NYON, 20–26 APRIL 2007

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS, ATELIERS SPECIAL PROGRAMMES, COPRODUCTION MEETINGS EDN-PITCHING SESSIONS, PANELS VIDEO LIBRARY WITH V.O.D. SYSTEM FOR BUYERS

ENTRY FORMS AND REGULATIONS: WWW.VISIONSDUREEL.CH IN PRODUCTION

Originally, the film was supposed to go into production in summer 2005, but was postponed by a year when the financing was not clos- ed. However, in retrospect, the delay gave Thalheim and his producers a chance to hone the script further. “Sven is no longer someone who is possessed by an idea like in the original screenplay,” explains producer Britta Knoeller. “Moreover, he now comes to Oswiecim and is no longer the know-it-all he had been before.”

Thalheim came with lead actor Fehling to the Polish town two weeks ahead of the shoot to get a feeling for the place and to rehearse the scenes and, towards the end of the shoot, the cast and crew had a

Alexander Fehling (photo © Gerald von Foris) Alexander Fehling meeting with people who had been in Auschwitz to hear about their experiences.

As Knoeller explains, 23|5 Filmproduktion’s founder Hans- Am Ende Christian Schmid worked closely with Thalheim on the development of the screenplay whereas she was more involved in the con- kommen Touristen crete production, although they have both taken turns in being at the set during the shoot. “You can’t compare this film with Netto,” she Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Coming-of-Age suggests. “That film focused on a father-son constellation and allowed Story, Drama, Social Production Company 23|5 Film- for improvisation between the actors. That is not easy to do with the produktion/Berlin, in co-production with ZDF Das kleine Polish actors, but they were nevertheless very flexible and we were Fernsehspiel/Mainz With backing from Medienboard Berlin- able to discuss the figures’ intentions during the rehearsals.” Brandenburg, BKM, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) Producers Britta Knoeller, Hans-Christian Schmid Commissioning Editor While Netto cost only €3,200 as a practice film, shot during the sum- Christian Cloos Director Robert Thalheim Screenplay Robert mer vacation from Thalheim’s studies at the Academy of Film & Thalheim Director of Photography Yoliswa Gaertig Editor Television “Konrad Wolf ” (HFF) in Potsdam, Am Ende kommen Stefan Kobe Production Design Michal Galinski, Rita-Maria Touristen has a budget of around €1 million with support from Hallekamp Principal Cast Alexander Fehling, Ryszard Ronczewski, ZDF’s Das kleine Fernsehspiel unit, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Barbara Wysocka, Piotr Rogucki, Rainer Sellien, Lena Stolze, Lutz BKM, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), and the post-production Blochberger Casting Simone Baer (Germany), Magda Szwarcbart house Pictorion Pictures. (Poland) Format Super 16 mm, blow-up to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Languages German, Polish, English “We can now work much more professionally,” says Thalheim, who Shooting in Oswiecim/Poland, July – September 2005 German used locations in the town of Oswiecim itself after the team was not Distributor X Verleih/Berlin granted permission to shoot in the grounds of the former Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration camp. “There was constantly the question World Sales within the team of how much one actually has to show of the place of Bavaria Film International the concrete crime in order to do justice to Auschwitz. And now I am Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann even pleased that we are not shooting in the camp grounds. I hope Bavariafilmplatz 8 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany that in this way one will have even more respect for the place.” phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 email: [email protected] Am Ende kommen Touristen – which ideally should be ready www.bavaria-film-international.com at the beginning of 2007 – is the second production of the Berlin- based company 23|5 Filmproduktion after its Berlinale competition After breaking onto the German film scene last year with the social entry and German Film Award-winning Requiem. 23|5 has a number of comedy Netto, Robert Thalheim has now completed shooting of projects in development, including a new feature film by Schmid, the his second feature Am Ende kommen Touristen which draws political thriller Sturm (working title), again co-written with Bernd on the director’s own experiences of community service for Aktion Lange; a children’s film penned by Jakob Hilpert and Achim von Suehnezeichen in Auschwitz in the mid-1990s. Boerries; and projects with Daniel Nocke, Markus Busch and Stefan Daehnert. Newcomer Alexander Fehling plays the German Sven in his early twenties who arrives in Auschwitz to begin his alternative to military MB service. There he meets Krzeminski (played by veteran Polish stage actor Ryszard Ronczewski), a former concentration camp in- mate, who still lives next to the camp memorial, and also a young interpreter (Barbara Wysocka, an up-and-coming actress from Cracow) whose greatest wish is at last to leave the small Polish town of Oswiecim. The confrontation with history at this place leads Sven into contemporary Poland. german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 24 visits them, just to see if it’s okay for the “child” to visit. But shortly afterwards the “child” dies and then Irm watches her victim’s shock when they arrive at the cemetery!“

“But the game spins out of control,” says Schwingel, picking up the thread, “when she meets her latest victim, Sina. She thinks Irm is

(photo © Thekla Ehling) actually Elenore, a teacher and mother of Lea Paulina, but Sina’s recently lost her husband in a car accident and breaks down in front of her. Irm comforts her but then breaks off contact.”

The two women later meet by accident and a genuine friendship develops. Irm ends her telephone antics and even reconciles with her DoP Jutta Pohlmann, director Felix Randau Felix director DoP Jutta Pohlmann, dying mother. But the new friendship is put to the test when Sina says she’s leaving town. In desperation, Irm sees only one possibility, to tell the truth.

Die Anruferin “Now if all this sounds horribly weird and depressing, be rest assured that Die Anruferin is anything but,” says Bjoern Vosgerau, Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Melodrama, associate producer and new member of the Wueste-team, who Tragicomedy Production Company Wueste Film acquired the project, developed the script and brought director West/Cologne, in co-production with ZDF/Das kleine Fernseh- Felix Randau aboard. “The film strikes a perfect balance between spiel/Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg With backing from Filmstiftung the tragic and comic. It’s her friendship with Sina that turns Irm from NRW, Nordmedia Producers Stefan Schubert, Ralph Schwingel, a damaged individual to a human being. It’s a very positive film, full of Hejo Emons Director Felix Randau Screenplay Vera Kissel hope with a wonderfully upbeat resolution.” Director of Photography Jutta Pohlmann Commissioning Editors Lucas Schmidt (ZDF), Barbara Haebe (ARTE) Editor Die Anruferin is director Randau’s second project with Wueste Gergana Voigt Music by Thies Mynther Production Design Film and ZDF after his 2003 film Northern Star, which also won him Peter Menne Principal Cast Valerie Koch, Esther Schweins, the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award for Best Script. Franziska Ponitz, Marita Breuer, Stefanie Muehlhan, Ivan Shvedoff, Heinz Strunk Casting Deborah Congia Format Super 16, blow-up SK to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Surround Ex Shooting Language German Shooting in Cologne and surroundings, Bonn, Bremen, August - September 2006

World Sales Bavaria Film International Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann Bavariafilmplatz 8 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 (photo courtesy of Kinowelt) email: [email protected] of“Veterans German cinema” www.bavaria-film-international.com

After a series of recents hits, Emmas Glueck, FC Venus, Eine andere Liga, and Kebab Connection, Wueste Film’s Stefan Schubert and Ralph Schwingel are back in action!

Once again changing genres with the assurance of Michael Schumacher taking a curve, yet remaining true to their belief that Aufbruch der Filmemacher steady growth comes only from getting the quality right, this time they have teamed up with pubcaster ZDF’s showcase for emerging talent, Type of Project Documentary Production Company Das kleine Fernsehspiel. Kinowelt Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production with Filmverlag der Autoren/Leipzig, BR/Munich With backing from Irm Krischka leads a double life. In her early 30s, she jobs in a laun- FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) Producer drette while looking after her bed-ridden mother. As a child, Irm Rainer Koelmel Production Manager Wasiliki Trampuratzi experienced the death of her younger sister and the collapse of her Commissioning Editors Thomas Sessner, Monika Lobkowicz parents’ marriage. She was then left alone to care for an alcoholic Directors Dominik Wessely, Laurens Straub Screenplay Rainer mother whose dead child was more important than the living one. Koelmel, Laurens Straub, Dominik Wessely Director of Photography Knut Schmitz Editor Anja Pohl Format HDTV, “But now Irm has the upper hand,” says Schubert, “and lets the blow-up to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language mother know it. It would be a miserable existence if it weren’t for her German Shooting in Munich, Berlin, Paris, Los Angeles, February - double life: she puts on a child’s voice and calls strangers, drawing November 2006 German Distributor Kinowelt Film- them into an invented life. Then she pretends to be the mother and verleih/Leipzig german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 25 World Sales Kinowelt International GmbH · Stelios Ziannis Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10 · 01407 Leipzig/Germany phone +49-3 41-35 59 60 · fax +49-3 41-35 59 61 19 email: [email protected] · www.kinowelt.de

“The recent upswing of German cinema, nationally and internationally, calls for a reference to earlier comparable developments. “Autopiloten” Scene from Achievements and mistakes during the brief history of the independent Filmverlag der Autoren in the seventies are exactly that exciting reference,” says producer Rainer Koelmel. (photo © LICHTBLICK Film/Alex Trebus) Tailor-made for lovers of modern German cinema, film historians and movie buffs everywhere, Aufbruch der Filmemacher is essen- tial viewing as it tackles the subject of the most significant era of post- war German filmmaking (1962-1982) that saw the rise, and subse- quent demise, of the movement that became known as New German Autopiloten Cinema. Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Episodic Film This was the movement of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Production Company Lichtblick Film- & Fernsehproduktion/ Wenders, Hans G. Geissendoerfer, Hark Bohm, Werner Herzog and Cologne, in co-production with SWR/Baden-Baden, ARTE/ others. Their influence extended beyond local borders to impact on Strasbourg With backing from Filmstiftung NRW Producer the very nature of filmmaking itself. Francis Ford Coppola was later to Joachim Ortmanns Commissioning Editors Stefanie Gross say that Apocalypse Now would have been unthinkable without (SWR), Georg Steinert (ARTE) Director Bastian Guenther Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes. Screenplay Bastian Guenther Director of Photography Michael Kotsch Editor Olaf Tischbier Music by Bernd Begemann True auteurs, a group of these directors went one step further. In Production Design Dorothee von Bodelschwingh Principal order to retain control over the production, rights exploitation and Cast Manfred Zapatka, Charly Huebner, Walter Kreye, Wolfram distribution of their films, on 18 April 1971, they founded the Koch, Charlotte Bohning, Regine Schroeder, Maya Koschmieder, Filmverlag der Autoren. It was to become the central motor of New Susanne-Marie Wrage Casting Kathrin Bessert (Anja Dihrberg German Cinema. Casting) Format Super 16 mm, FAZ to 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language German Shooting in This period, 1962-1982, saw German filmmaking, in terms of the Ruhrgebiet, September – October 2006 richness of its content and its international influence, reach heights that it was never to achieve since. Contact Lichtblick Film- & Fernsehproduktion GmbH To watch Aufbruch der Filmemacher is to hear those who Yvonne Gottschalk were there tell it as it was: guts, glory, warts and all. Featuring inter- Apostelnstrasse 11 · 50667 Cologne/Germany views as well as contemporary footage and rare archive material, this phone +49-2 21-9 25 75 20 · fax +49-2 21-9 25 75 29 documentary is not only the definitive record of a unique era but is email: [email protected] · www.lichtblick-film.de set to become a classic in its own right. Two years ago, Cologne-based producer Joachim Ortmanns was SK attending the German Film & Television Academy’s annual showcase of student work when he saw excerpts from a “work in progress” by dffb student Bastian Guenther, Ende einer Strecke, which immediately caught his attention.

“He showed me his past films and then we came together to develop Bastian’s debut feature Autopiloten while Ende einer Strecke was still being completed,” Ortmanns recalls. Guenther’s graduation film was shown at the Hof International Film Festival last year – where he also scored a goal in the traditional Saturday morning football match! – and won this year’s First Steps Award in the category for short features up to 60 minutes.

Autopiloten consists of four interwoven episodes taking place during one day and one night on the highways of the Ruhr region where people’s paths cross who have one thing in common: they are all trying to live up to a lost ideal: four stories on a washed-up pop sin- ger Heinz (played by Manfred Zapatka), the football coach Georg (Walter Kreye) who may soon be out of a job if his team loses the cup match, the freelance TV reporter Dieter (Wolfram german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 26 Koch) who has been too wrapped up in his job as a roving TV re- Contact porter to think about his family, and the traveling salesman Joerg Riva Filmproduktion GmbH (Charly Huebner) who is increasingly under pressure to meet the Friedensallee 14-16 · 22765 Hamburg/Germany sales targets … phone +49-40-3 90 62 56 · fax +49-40-3 90 69 59 email: [email protected] · www.rivafilm.de The protagonists arrive in the course of the film at a point of self- knowledge which they handle in various ways, and the subject matter “I have been friends with Theo now for 20 years after I invited him to is presented to the audience with funny, laconic as well as melancholic show his film Zischke when I was running the cinema at Raschplatz in situations. Hanover,” recalls producer Michael Eckelt who finally found an opportunity to work with Krieger on a project which had been As the director points out, he is interested here “in showing the hard- awarded the Volkswagen Screenplay Prize at the International Film ly positive social trend and commenting and evaluating it with a funny, Festival Emden-Aurich-Norderney. He describes the project as “a but also reflective film and looking for an attempt at solutions for female buddy story between two completely different characters, the some of the figures in the film.” story of an impossible friendship which develops against all probabili- ty and resistance.“ “Bastian’s figures mostly appear rather austere, but they have an incredible depth,” says Ortmanns about the young filmmaker’s quali- Beautiful Bitch, the first project of Eckelt’s new company Riva ties. "He speaks about serious human issues such as identity, success, Filmproduktion which he founded earlier this year with media failure, career vs. private life, and vice versa, and he finds a form which lawyer Wolfgang Brehm, tells the story of the 15-year-old Romanian isn’t obtrusive, but rather profound." girl Bica, alias Bitch, who is living on the streets of Bucharest before she is enticed to faraway Duesseldorf by the promises of the former Autopiloten follows Lichtblick Film’s previous collaboration policeman Cristu. He has promised her the chance to earn some with a first-time filmmaker when Ortmanns produced Thomas money to help her younger brother, but the supposed job turns out Durchschlag’s feature debut Allein which won the prize for Best to be organized pick-pocketing under the toughest of conditions. It is Newcomer Actress and the Interfilm jury’s prize at the 2005 Ophuels during one of her trips out stealing that she gets to know the spoiled Festival in Saarbruecken and was invited to compete for the Tiger brat Milka and is confronted for the first time in her life with a "nor- Awards in Rotterdam. mal" teenage existence. Being cool, having fun and just hanging out MB seems just like paradise to her and gives light to a completely new, breathtaking feeling. But when Cristu sees that she is leading a double life, he tries using brutal violence to keep her away from this forbidden world. Bitch’s new friends rally round to come to her aid …

“We cast the net very wide in the casting for the two girls,” Eckelt explains. “We went to the agencies, schools, school drama groups, the drama academy in Timisoara [in Romania], and visited streetball courts and basketball clubs. When we saw Katharina Derr, we knew she was exactly the right type even though she hadn’t done anything like this before. But since she is in practically every scene, we Scene from “BeautifulScene from Bitch”

(photo © Riva Filmproduktion) were not sure if we should risk it until her agency, Tomorrow, organized an improvisation with Patrick von Blume and we said ’OK, let’s take the risk’. I can now say that the girls are really great, Katharina not only gives the figure of Bitch a face, but is also credible in the way she lives out this character in front of the camera.”

While Derr is a completely “new face” to the world of acting, Sina Tkotsch as Milka has appeared in Familie Dr. Kleist and the RTL TV Beautiful Bitch movie Salsaprinzessin and even has her own fanzine website, and Patrick von Blume – as the corrupt ex-policeman – has acted in Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Youth Drama Olaf F. Wehling’s Futschicato, Florian Gaag’s graffiti film Wholetrain, Production Company Riva Filmproduktion/Hamburg, in co- and Elmar Fischer’s Fremder Freund. production with WDR/Cologne, NDR/Hamburg With backing from BKM, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Filmstiftung NRW, MSH As Eckelt points out, it wasn’t always easy to get permission to shoot Schleswig-Holstein, FilmFoerderung Hamburg Producer Michael at certain locations because of the story being set in the milieu of Eckelt Director Theo Martin Krieger Screenplay Theo Martin pickpockets and petty crime. "There was one scene in a department Krieger Director of Photography Andreas Hoefer Editor store where Bitch goes into the shoe department and leaves wearing Brigitta Tauchner Production Design Andrea Kessler Principal some stolen shoes. We had trouble finding a store, but eventually Cast Katharina Derr, Patrick von Blume, Sina Tkotsch, Therese Globetrotter in Cologne said OK. The same happened with scenes in Haemer, Lucien Le Rest Casting Die Besetzer, Iris Baumueller- a shopping center until we got a green light from a mall in Wuppertal," Michel Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting he says. "We had real support from Duesseldorf where the authori- Language German Shooting in Hamburg, Grossensee, ties acknowledged that there is a problem with the child pickpockets Duesseldorf, Bucharest, July – September 2006 and wanted it to be clear in the film that the setting is Duesseldorf. The city’s Mayor even has a small role in the film!" MB german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 27 they learn in their mature years to swim!”

As with many of his previous works, director Boehlich also wrote the screenplay and pays particular attention to psychological precision as well as vivid images, expressions and gestures for what is his second film for the cinema after his feature debut in 2004 with Mutterseelenallein, which starred Katrin Sass and Vadim Glowna and was presented as a“surprise film” at last year’s Berlinale.

“The whole film was shot in Marzahn and Berlin is recognizable in the film, but the story would be possible in other places with the pre- fabricated concrete housing estates and people looking for work,” explains Schloesser who already has several sales agents and distri-

produktion Loeprich & Schloesser/Conny Klein) produktion butors interested in picking up the film. Katharina Thalbach, Axel Prahl (photo © Oe Film- Thalbach, Axel Katharina

Delivery of Du bist nicht allein is scheduled for the beginning of Du bist nicht allein 2007 when another project from Oe Film, Karger (working title) by Elke Hauck, is also due to be completed. This low-low budget film Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Tragicomedy was shot in the industrial town of Riesa in Saxony with amateur actors Production Company Oe Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co-produc- and centers on the challenge for a steelworker of embarking on a tion with RBB/Berlin, WDR/Cologne, SWR/Baden-Baden With new life after going through a divorce and being fired from one day to backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Producer the next. Katrin Schloesser Director Bernd Boehlich Screenplay Bernd Boehlich Director of Photography Thomas Plenert Editor In addition, Schloesser and her partner at Oe Film, Frank Karola Mittelstaedt Production Design Beatrice Schultz Loeprich, are working with screenwriters Christoph Silber and Principal Cast Katharina Thalbach, Axel Prahl, Katerina Stefan Schaefer on the development of a highly topical political thril- Medvedeva, Herbert Knaup, Karoline Eichhorn, Victor Choulmann, ler – Renditions – about a CIA agent based in Berlin trying to free a Juergen Holtz Format 16 mm, blow-up to HD/35 mm, color, Lebanese poet and translator she had mistakenly identified as the 1:1.85, Dolby SRD Shooting Language German Shooting in head of a terrorist group from a secret prison. Berlin, June – July 2006 MB Contact Oe Filmproduktion Loeprich & Schloesser GmbH Langhansstrasse 86 · 13086 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-4 46 72 60 · fax +49-30-44 67 26 26 email: [email protected] · www.oefilm.de

The concrete jungle of Berlin’s Marzahn district was the setting for (photo © miko-film) Bernd Boehlich’s second feature film Du bist nicht allein which was shot this summer with a top-notch cast including Katharina Thalbach, Axel Prahl and Herbert Knaup.

“Bernd had already written a draft of the screenplay in 2001 and it Scene from “Eine etwas andere Familie” “Eine etwas andere Scene from was clear to him from the outset that he wanted Katharina and Axel to play,” recalls Katrin Schloesser of the Berlin-based production outfit Oe Filmproduktion which was invited to Cannes’ Directors Fortnight this year with Stefan Krohmer’s Summer ’04 (Sommer ’04 an der Schlei). Eine etwas andere Familie At the center of the tragicomedy are the decorator Hans Moll (Prahl) and his wife (Thalbach), the TV presenter Frau Wellinek (Karoline Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Tragicomedy Eichhorn) and her ex (Knaup) and the German-Russian Jewgenia Production Company miko-film/Berlin With backing from (Katerina Medvedeva). They all have a lot of what one needs Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, for life: food, drink, and a flat. However, what they don’t have is Kuratorium junger deutscher Film Producer Faysal Omer Director work. Marc Meyer Screenplay Marc Meyer Director of Photography Peter Polsak Editor Diana Karsten Production Design Agi Du bist nicht allein is described as “a story about the power of Dawaachu, Volker Frackmann Principal Cast Samuel Finzi, Nina love and the little miracles we can discover if we keep our eyes open Kronjaeger, Anna Maria Muehe, Harald Warmbrunn, Margot Nagel, as we travel on life’s journey. The film does this by using powerful Ennio Incanova Casting Ann-Kathrin Weldy, Sorrel Athina Jardine emotions and true-to-life, affectionate humor to tell stories from Format DV, blow-up to 35 mm, 1:1.85, color, Dolby SR Shooting everyday life and about people who, in spite of all adversity, look for Language German Shooting in Berlin, September & November the light in their lives – and even though it may not be the big career, 2006 German Distributor ZORRO Filmverleih/Munich german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 28 Contact miko-film GbR · Faysal Omer Ryke Strasse 17 · 10405 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-96 08 68 14 · fax +49-30-96 08 68 15 email: [email protected]

Bing Crosby dreamed of a white Christmas. Oliver, the hero of writer-director Marc Meyer’s debut feature, Eine etwas andere Familie, is going one better: he’s dreaming of the perfect family

Christmas and he’s not about to let the fact that he hasn’t got a fami- (photo courtesy of MotionWorks) ly get in the way! “Ein Fall fuerScene from Freunde…”

So Oliver steals a wife, three kids, grandma, grandpa and a dog and then, by golly, he’s going to weld this bunch of complete strangers into a family unit with as much love and determination as it takes. Come hell or high water, it’s going to be a happy holiday, or else! Ein Fall fuer Freunde … “I live in a district full of young families,” says Meyer, “and I was sitting alone one day, writing, looking out the window, and just thought how easy it would be to borrow a couple of kids and a single mother!” wie alles begann Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Animation, Children’s Meyer took the idea to his good friend, Faysal Omer, who is Film, Family Production Company MotionWorks/Halle, in co-pro- making his producing debut. An architect, he has been responsible for duction with Enanimation/Turin, 2d3D Animations/Angoulême With project development at the European Film Market since April 2005, backing from Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, Medienboard overseeing its recent move to the Martin Gropius Bau. Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) Producer Tony Loeser Commissioning Editor Manuela Lumb "Marc needed a good organizer," says Omer. "We wanted to do the (WDR) Directors Tony Loeser, Jesper Moeller Screenplay Bettine film with our own money but it just grew. We wanted to get on and & Achim von Borries, based on a script by Helme Heine & Gisela von do it but the material was so good we managed to get support from Radowitz Art Directors Olaf Ulbricht, Serge Valbert Format 35 three of the four sources we approached." mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language German Animation in the studios of MotionWorks, Enanimation and 2d3D As Meyer acknowledges, raising finance for a debut feature is never Animations, February – October 2007 German Distributor easy. But his first film, Sonntag, im August, won him the Short Film Warner Bros. Entertainment/Hamburg Award at the Dresden Film Festival 2005, so the talent is obviously there. Contact MotionWorks GmbH In any event, Meyer is “able to manage with little means so I don’t Mansfelder Strasse 56 · 05108 Halle (Saale)/Germany think about it! DV is super,” he says, “as I can get that film look and phone +49-3 45-20 56 90 · fax +49-3 45-2 05 69 22 also experiment. It lets me concentrate on the actors. The cast is email: [email protected] wonderful. It’s great fun and that’s the best reason to direct, watching www.motionworks-halle.com the characters come to life.” Production is set to crank up in the new year on an animated feature Speaking of which, Nina Kronjaeger (who plays the mother) film based on the Ein Fall fuer Freunde (A Case for Friends) books by appeared in Elementarteilchen and Abgeschminkt and she was nomina- children’s author and illustrator Helme Heine, which have been ted for the German Television Award 2005 and the Adolf Grimme Award translated into 30 languages and sold 8 million copies. 2005 for her performance in Typisch Mann. The co-production between Germany’s MotionWorks, Italy’s Meyer and Omer are also keen to praise the rest of the ensemble: Enanimation and France’s 2d3D Animations follows on the Samuel Finzi, Anna Maria Muehe (an up-and-coming young German and Italian studios’ experiences of producing 26 five-minute talent) as well as Schulze Gets the Blues’ Harald Warmbrunn. As short films for WDR’s long-running Die Sendung mit der Maus pro- Meyer says, “he’s the guarantee things don’t get too serious!” gram which saw the three friends – the mouse Johnny Mauser, the cockerel Franz von Hahn and the pig Waldemar – acting as detectives Eine etwas andere Familie also marks the acting debut of to solve all sorts of crimes in their home of Mullewapp. Maetzchen as the baby. She/he is scheduled to be born some three weeks before shooting starts! And a name to note: Cleopatra von The film opens with Johnny Mauser, an entertainer down on his luck, Akazienwald as Cleo, the dog! A born pro, “she knows exactly ending up in the sleepy village of Mullewapp where he meets the vain what’s expected of her,” says Meyer. “Besides, who could resist those cockerel Franz von Hahn and the insatiable pig Waldemar. When eyes?” Mullewapp’s pride and joy, the little lamb Cloud, is suddenly kidnapp- ed, it is left to these unequal companions to use all of their bravery, SK might and cunning to save her from the claws of the big bad wolf who is planning a big feast with Cloud as the main dish on the menu. Through their adventures they come to learn about one another’s german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 29 strengths and weaknesses and to stand up for one another.

“The film will show how the three friends became friends,” says Manuela Lumb, the commissioning editor at Cologne-based WDR for the series and the feature film. “There are all kinds of un- usual storylines with exciting and emotional characters, and a real story of adventure aimed at the younger children rather than target- ing the whole family like the Disney films.”

Heine and his wife Gisela von Radowitz provided the basic storyline for the film, while the actual screenplay was developed by the writing team of Achim and Bettine von Borries who have also been involved in an animated feature film version of Tomi Detlev Buck (center) on the set of “Haende weg Ungerer’s The Three Robbers for X Filme. von Mississippi” (photo © Boje Buck Produktion)

“Apart from the plot, Heine has also come up with some lovely visual ideas and we naturally want to ensure that we keep to the artwork Haende weg von from his books,” Lumb adds.

As Heine notes, “Johnny Mauser is the Sherlock Holmes who solves Mississippi things with humor, reflection and a magnifying glass. Franz von Hahn Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Children’s Film, takes the two friends to the scene of the crime on his bicycle. And fat Family Production Company Boje Buck Produktion/Berlin, in Waldemar is the ’strong arm’ of the law who arrests the wrong- co-production with ZDF/Mainz With backing from doers.” And he adds that these stories about the three friends seem FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, to appeal in equal measures to children and adults alike because it Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), BKM, Kulturelle Filmfoerderung speaks about “elementary stories of friendship, love and death. About Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Producer Claus Boje Com- all facets of life. That’s something one understands in Brazil in the missioning Editors Irene Wellershoff, Franziska Guderian same way as in Japan and in Korea.” Director Detlev Buck Screenplay Maggie Peren, Stefan Schaller, based on the novel by Cornelia Funke Director of Photography Ein Fall fuer Freunde … wie alles begann, which was Jana Marsik Editor Dirk Grau Production Design Lothar Holler presented as a project at this year’s Cartoon Movie co-production Principal Cast Zoe Mannhardt, Katharina Thalbach, Christoph market in Babelsberg, will be directed by Tony Loeser whose Maria Herbst, Hans Loew, Milan Peschel, Alexander Seidel, Halle-based company MotionWorks has been involved in the pro- Konstantin Kaucher, Margit Carstensen Casting Jacqueline Rietz duction of such recent animation productions as Globi and The Stolen Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting Shadow, The Little Polar Bear (feature films and series), Tobias Totz, Language German Shooting in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, July Jester Till, and the two seasons of the Piratengeschichten puppet ani- - August 2006 German Distributor Delphi Filmverleih/Berlin mation TV series with Studio Soi for RBB and MDR. Loeser will be joined on this latest project as co-director by the Danish animator Contact Jesper Moeller whose past credits include working in various Boje Buck Produktion GmbH functions on Asterix and the Vikings, Tarzan II, Help! I’m A Fish, Felidae Kurfuerstendamm 226 · 10719 Berlin/Germany and Asterix in America. phone +49-30-88 59 13 0 · fax +49-30-88 59 13 15 email: [email protected] · www.bojebuck.de MB W.C. Fields famously once said “Never work with children and animals”, but that didn’t deter Detlev Buck from trying his hand at a “children’s western” with an adaptation of the novel Haende weg von Mississippi by Germany’s answer to J.K. Rowling, Cornelia Funke.

As producer Claus Boje stresses, the decision to make a children’s film was "not based on any strategic consideration just because family films are doing so well at the moment. It is rather the case that one is interested in a story, the characters and the atmosphere. It is a challenge to do something new where one is looking at the world from a different perspective, from a child’s point of view. That’s why one does it."

Adapted for the screen by Maggie Peren and Stefan Schaller, Haende weg von Mississippi tells the story of young Emma (played by Zoe Mannhardt) who comes to her grandmother Dolly’s (Katharina Thalbach) for the summer holidays and learns to her horror that a dastardly neighbor – known by Emma and the local children as “the Alligator” – is planning to send his late german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 30 uncle’s horse Mississippi to the knacker’s yard. Emma manages with Language German Shooting in Ampfing, Wasserburg, the help of her grandmother and the local vet to buy Mississippi from Regensburg, Munich, August - September 2006 German the "Alligator". But then he is suddenly interested in reversing the sale Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich when it turns out that the horse clearly plays an important role in the late uncle’s will … Contact Collina Filmproduktion GmbH · Anja Braune The film was shot completely on location north of Berlin around the Franz-Joseph-Strasse 15 · 80801 Munich/Germany Schaalsee in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern during this summer’s heat phone +49-89-55 06 18 0 · fax +49-89-55 06 18 18 wave in July and August. “Working with children was quite a new email: [email protected] · www.collinafilm.de experience,” Boje admits. “It is psychologically a different kind of work. The thing was that we were working with both children and From the award-winning team behind Das Sams and Sams in Gefahr animals – with horses, pigs, ducks and they are definitely not like train- comes Herr Bello, a man’s-best-friend-into-man film for the whole ed actors!” family!

The production also marked the first collaboration with the young This time, director Ben Verbong, author and Sams-creator Paul DoP Jana Marsik whose work on shorts and documentaries had Maar and producer-writer Ulrich Limmer have come together come to the attention of the producer and director. “Straightaway, again to tell the tale of 12-year-old Max who is jealous of his widower she had the right approach to the subject,” Boje recalls. “She under- father’s attempt to find new love with Frau Lichtblau. stood that it is a film about the summer holidays and the fact that they should never end. She managed to translate this flair of adventure and Max’s best friend is his dog, Bello, and thanks to magic the animal freedom into images.” turns into a human being, Herr Bello. But if manners, or is it clothes, make the man then Herr Bello is most definitely still a dog! Furry- Meanwhile, the cooperation with the local authorities and the people faced, cat-chasing and bad-breathed chaos ensues until it all comes in the region ran so smoothly that Boje Buck would not hesitate to good in the happy end as, thanks to Herr Bello, Max learns to accept return to Roegnitz and the Schaalsee in the future. The local press the newest member of his family. even announced that the production company would open a branch office there. “We will definitely see if we can find something where “We are creating a fantasy,” says Limmer. “Herr Bello is a fairytale we can come back next year,” Boje says. story of the healing of a partial-family in that the main character helps the young boy. For this reason, the film is very much character driven. MB We have some great special effects but they are there to serve the story. Ben has a sense for comedy and emotion and what comes over is not just his, but all of our enthusiasm.”

In addition to the two Sams films, Verbong’s credits also include the recent Christmas hit Es ist ein Elch entsprungen while Maar, who also illustrates his own books, has received numerous national and international awards for his work.

On the set of “Herr Bello” Limmer’s career had taken him from Bavaria Film to Kinowelt before

(photo courtesy of Collina Film) he founded Collina Filmproduktion in 2002. His credits include not only the Sams films but such hits as Der Raeuber Hotzenplotz, Comedian Harmonists, Rennschwein Rudi Ruessel and Schtonk!. This last title was both OSCAR and Golden Globe nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1993.

Among Collina’s upcoming projects (“We’re not just about kids’ films,” says Limmer) are romantic comedies for commercial broad- Herr Bello caster Pro7 and pubcaster ARD.

Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Family Meantime Limmer and Verbong have no fear of children or dogs. Entertainment Production Company Collina Filmproduktion/ “Not when we also have chickens, horses, rabbits and pigs!” laughs Munich, in co-production with Constantin Film Production/Munich, Limmer. B.A. Produktion/Munich, Kinowelt Filmproduktion/Munich With backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt SK (FFA), BayerischerBankenFonds Producer Ulrich Limmer Director Ben Verbong Screenplay Ulrich Limmer, Paul Maar Director of Photography Jan Fehse Editor Alexander Dittner Music by Konstantin Wecker Production Design Frank Polosek Principal Cast August Zirner, Armin Rohde, Sophie von Kessel, Manuel Steitz, Jan-Gregor Kremp Casting Nessie Nesslauer Special Effects SFX: Harald Ruediger, VFX: Arri Digital Film, Juergen Schopper Format 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby SR Shooting german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 31 Enders is “aware of the risk of having a hero who is reserved, laconic and doesn’t say much. But,” she continues, “her behavior is the result of guilt and not due to her lack of longing and vulnerability. I want the viewer to be curious about her and realize what is behind her fa- çade.”

Wiesner and Enders “met by coincidence at film school,” says Wiesner. “She brings the art side to the equation; the script, ideas, actors, casting. I bring the finance, look for partners and put the team together.” Dirk Plamboeck/Beaglefilms GmbH)

Beaglefilms’ next project is already in development: Solo, a road movie, by Werner Kranwetvogel. “Up to now,” says Wiesner, “we’ve Mondkalb concentrated on arthouse films, but we are still looking for our ori- entation and as a producer I always go for the person behind the material because film is so personal.” Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Drama SK Production Company Beaglefilms Filmproduktion/Berlin, in co- production with WDR/Cologne, RBB/Potsdam-Babelsberg With backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin- Brandenburg, Kuratorium junger deutscher Film Producer Juri Wiesner Commissioning Editors Andrea Hanke (WDR), Cooky Ziesche (RBB) Director Sylke Enders Screenplay Sylke Enders Director of Photography Frank Amann Editor Frank Brummundt Production Design Tommy Stark Principal Cast Juliane Koehler, Axel Prahl, Leonard Carow, Ronald Kukulies, Niels On the set of “Stube 54” Bormann Casting Uwe Bunker Special Effects Armin Sauer, Roland Tropp Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby SR Shooting Language German Shooting in Berlin, Rathenau, Hamsdorf, Rangsdorf, August - September 2006 German Distributor X Verleih/Berlin (photo © Wiedemann & Berg Film/Erika Hauri) Contact Beaglefilms Filmproduktions GmbH · Juri Wiesner Wielandstrasse 33 · 10629 Berlin/Germany Stube 54 phone +49-30-88 91 08 50 · fax +49-30-88 91 08 60 email: [email protected] · www.beaglefilms.tv Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Comedy Love hurts, as the 39-year-old Alexandra, who has just been released Production Company Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion/ from a two-year prison sentence for assaulting her ex-husband, Munich, in co-production with Constantin Film Production/Munich, knows only too well. With her faith in human relationships destroy- SevenPictures Film/Munich, Zweite Medienfonds German ed, Alex survives by withdrawing emotionally from life. She tries to Filmproductions GFP/Berlin With backing from find her psychological balance in solitude. But when a man and his FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) Producers young son cross her path and plans, she is forced to take a stand. Alex Quirin Berg, Max Wiedemann Commissioning Editor Andrea dares to leave her self-imposed exile and discovers once again just Bohling (Pro7) Director Granz Henman Screenplay Oliver how thin the ice can be and how fragile happiness is, no matter how Ziegenbalg, Oliver Philipp, Carsten Funke, Robert Loehr Director small it is. of Photography Gernot Roll Editor Ueli Christen Pro- duction Design Christian Kettler Principal Cast Franz Dinda, “What’s special about the film,” says Mondkalb’s executive produ- Florian Lukas, Axel Stein Format 35 mm, color, cs, Dolby SRD cer and Beaglefilms’ founder, Juri Wiesner, “is that the main Shooting Language German Shooting in Munich and sur- character is an outsider. She has chosen to exile herself, physically and roundings, September – November 2005 German Distributor mentally, from society as a whole. It takes a special kind of actress to Constantin Film Verleih/Munich portray this and Juliane Koehler is excellent in the role. But then again, the whole ensemble is excellent!” Contact Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG Confidence, indeed! But Mondkalb also marks the third collabora- Bauerstrasse 2 · 80796 Munich/Germany tion between Wiesner and writer-director Sylke Enders (the phone +49-89-45 23 23 70 · fax +49-89-45 23 23 99 other two being Hab mich lieb! and Schlitten auf schwarzem Schnee). email: [email protected] · www.wb-film.com

german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 32 After this year’s resounding success with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s thriller The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), producers Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann have embarked on something completely different for their second feature film production with Granz Henman’s military comedy Stube 54.

“We both did our national military service ten years ago now,” notes (photo © Razor Film) Berg, “and we both felt that we have to make a movie in this setting. Apart from Leander Haussman’s NVA, the military comedy genre has been rather neglected for decades while it thrived in other countries. der Berg ruft” “Wen Scene from That has to do with the very special role that the German Army played for a long time. But, in recent years, the general attitude has – in a healthy way – become much more self-conscious. Thanks to this development, we are sure that now is the perfect time to make a comedy about military service, the first ’Bundeswehrkomoedie’.”

While they were still at film school in Munich, the two producers Wen der Berg ruft began working on the development of a screenplay and later approached writer-director Henman whose past credits include the two Ants In The Pants comedies (Harte Jungs and Knallharte Jungs) and Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Love Story the Til Schweiger drama The Polar Bear (Der Eisbaer). Production Company Razor Film/Berlin, in co-production with Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion/Zurich, Senator Film "He is the ideal man for the project and, as an Englishman who grew Produktion/Berlin With backing from Medienboard Berlin- up in New York, brings a very special and objective angle to the sub- Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Zuercher Filmstiftung ject matter," Berg explains. Producers Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul Director Tamara Staudt Screenplay Tamara Staudt Director of Photography Stube 54 sees Henman teamed up again with veteran cinematogra- Michael Hammon Editor Joerg Hauschild Production Design pher Gernot Roll – they had worked together on More Ants In The Irmhild Gumm Principal Cast Anna Loos, Stefan Gubser, Steve Pants – as well as with actor Axel Stein whose career really took Wrzesniowski Casting Anja Dihrberg Format 35 mm, color, off after the two Ants films, although Berg reveals that “we will see a 1:1.85, Dolby Shooting Language German Shooting in new aspect of Axel in this film.” Eberswalde and Berner Oberland/Switzerland, September - October 2006 German Distributor Senator Film Verleih/Berlin Apart from Stein, the young cast includes newcomer Franz Dinda (The Cloud/Die Wolke), Florian Lukas (Good Bye, Lenin!), Roland Contact Nitschke (the German “voice” for Tommy Lee Jones) and Razor Film Produktion GmbH Christian Sengewald (the lover in Francois Ozon’s last feature Wassergasse 4 · 10179 Berlin/Germany Le temps qui reste). phone +49-30-84 71 22 80 · fax +49-30-8 47 12 28 77 email: [email protected] · www.razor-film.de Dinda, who received BUNTE magazine’s New Faces Award earlier this year, plays the lead role of high school graduate Basti whose attempts September saw the beginning of shooting on the first international co- to avoid being called up for military service are all to no avail. Instead production initiated by Berlin-based Razor Film itself with the proof going to wild graduation parties and being with his new girlfriend, duction of dffb graduate Tamara Staudt’s second feature film Basti only has marching and cleaning tanks to look forward to – that Wen der Berg ruft in co-production with Zurich-based is, if it wasn’t for his “comrades” in Stube 54 … Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion and Senator Film Produktion. As Berg points out, the film’s screenwriters and director Henman were all sent off to a crash-course at a local barracks as preparation “I saw Tamara’s graduation film Samstags at the Ex-Ground Festival in for the film, and the actors also spent time at an army training camp Wiesbaden and it stayed in my memory,” Razor Film’s Roman Paul before shooting began in Munich and a former barracks in Lengries in recalls. “When I set up the company with Gerhard (Meixner), I start- mid-September. “Only a very few actors these days actually did mili- ed looking for her, found her number in the telephone book and gave tary service, so it was important that they got some drill experience,” her a call. This seems to work well because that’s how we got in Berg says. “That will help them with their approach to their charac- touch with Carsten Strauch for Offene Wunden as well!,” which Razor ters.” Film produced earlier this year.

MB Staudt’s romantic comedy focuses on an unemployed young mother Eva from Eastern Germany (played by Anna Loos) who ends up in a summer job in the Swiss Alps. Once there, she has to cope not only with stubborn cows, but also with a love-smitten dairyman and illegal workers from the Balkans who have their eyes on a German passport.

“Tamara has spent some time in the Alps learning to make cheese and

german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 33 she even became the cheese queen of the village where she was stay- ing, so she knows the region and the farmers and their work there very well,” Paul notes.

In addition to working closely with veteran screenwriter Wolfgang Kohlhaase (Sommer vorm Balkon) on the screenplay, Staudt further developed the project at last year’s Moonstone Screenwriters’ Lab in Scotland and explains that ”Wen der Berg ruft is a film about put- ting a relationship on ice that’s barely surviving in tough economic times. It’s about a cool but spectacular mountain summer and moving on to greener pastures. The challenge here is not only working hard at an altitude of 2,000 meters, but also getting along with people from different cultural backgrounds. For hundreds of years, farmers in the Swiss Alps have hired workers from abroad to help them out. These workers are cheaper and work longer hours than the locals – only fifty years ago, these workers came mainly from Italy or Austria. More recently, they came from Poland, Ukraine, Moldavia and Macedonia. Now, more and more Germans are taking up summer jobs because of the country’s stagnating economy.”

“There are people in Eastern Germany who are at the halfway mark in life which could or should be the high point, but it seems their lives are already over,” says Paul, adding that, visually, the film will also point up the contrast between the mountains in Switzerland and the bleakness of home back in Eberswalde.

german films quarterly in production

4 · 2006 34 BOROS

53. Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen 3.– 8. Mai 2007 53rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen 3 – 8 May 2007 Lichtburg Filmpalast www.kurzfilmtage.de

Deadline for Entries 15 January 2007 Image based on photo by Ian White 7 Zwerge – Der Wald ist nicht genug 7 DWARVES – THE WOOD IS NOT ENOUGH (photo © Detlef Overmann/Universal Pictures) Scene from “7 Dwarves – The Wood is Not Enough” “7 Dwarves – The Wood Scene from

The Seven Dwarves face their biggest challenge yet: Snow Mirco Nontschew, Cosma Shiva Hagen, Axel Neumann, Nina White asks them to help her prevent Rumpelstiltsken from Hagen, Hans Werner Olm, Helge Schneider, Heinz Hoenig, coming to get her child. On their way they face many Ruediger Hoffmann Length 95 min, 2,610 m Format 35 mm, adventures and there are many surprises in store for them. color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version The dwarves even visit a country they have never been to English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Surround Ex With before, but which looks strangely familiar to us – this time backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt the wood simply is not enough. (FFA) German Distributor Universal Pictures Germany/ Hamburg Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Production 2006 Director Sven Unterwaldt Screenplay Sven Unterwaldt ’s films include Antrag vom Ex (TV, 1999), Bernd Eilert, Otto Waalkes, Sven Unterwaldt Director of the TV series Switch (1997-1997), Anke (1999-2001), Alles Photography Peter von Haller Editor Norbert Herzner Atze (2002), and Berlin, Berlin (2002), as well as the features Music by Joja Wendt Production Design Thomas Wie die Karnickel (2002), 7 Dwarves (7 Zwerge – Freudenthal Producers Douglas Welbat, Otto Waalkes, Bernd Maenner allein im Wald, 2004), Siegfried (2005), and 7 Eilert Production Company Zipfelmuetzen Film/Hamburg, in Dwarves – The Wood is Not Enough (7 Zwerge – Der co-production with Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds/Munich, Wald ist nicht genug, 2006). Universal Pictures Productions/Hamburg, MMC Independent/ Cologne, Rialto Film/Berlin Principal Cast Otto Waalkes, Boris Aljinovic, Gustav Peter Woehler, Ralf Schmitz, Martin Schneider,

World Sales TELEPOOL GmbH · Wolfram Skowronnek Sonnenstrasse 21 · 80331 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-55 87 60 · fax +49-89-55 87 62 29 email: [email protected] · www.telepool.de german films quarterly new german films

4 · 2006 36 Auftauchen AMOUR FOU Scene from “Amour fou”" (photo © Erber + Koch) “Amour Scene from

Nadja utterly storms through life, without compromise. Gueldenberg, Juergen Lehmann, Claire Oelkers Casting Anne She is looking for the true moments in life: in her pictures Walcher, Stefany Pohlmann Special Effects Jens Doeldissen during the day as a photography student and at night in Length 92 min, 2,613 m Format Super 16 mm Blow-up 35 her favorite club, dancing herself into ecstasy with hefty mm Digital Recorded (HD), color, 1:1.85 Original Version flirts and quick sex. When she meets Darius, she is only German Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival interested in a one-night stand. But sex with Darius opens Screenings Hof 2006 With backing from FilmFernsehFonds her eyes to a deeper, more meaningful existence for which Bayern, Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding, she is willing to give up everything else. A desperate fight Foerderverein der HFF Muenchen, Frauenbeauftragte der HFF between love and passion begins into which Nadja dives Muenchen headfirst and which threatens to overwhelm Darius … Felicitas Korn was born in 1974 in Offenbach and studied at the Genre Drama, Erotic Category Feature Film Cinema Year of Academy of Television & Film in Munich. Also active as a writer, a Production 2006 Director Felicitas Korn Screenplay Felicitas selection of her films includes: Was fuer ein Zufall (short, Korn Director of Photography Kay Gauditz Editor Ulrike 1994), VIVA FAME 15 Stunden zum Ruhm (short docu- Tortora Music by Ron Schickler Production Design Oliver mentary, 1996), Nass (short, 2000), and several music videos. Hoese Producers Judith Erber, Bernhard Koch Production Amour fou (Auftauchen, 2006) is her feature film debut. Company Erber + Koch Filmproduktion/Munich, in co-production with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg, Rome Film/Munich Principal Cast Henriette Heinze, Golo Euler, Sabine Bach, Wolfgang Packhaeuser, Till Trenkel, Patrick

World Sales ARRI Media Worldsales · Antonio Exacoustos Tuerkenstrasse 89 · 80799 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 · fax +49-89-38 09 16 19 email: [email protected] · www.arri-mediaworldsales.de german films quarterly new german films

Privatization – for Minda in Manila, Bongani in Soweto The Big Sellout is the compelling portrayal of a complex and Simon in Brighton, this is a more than abstract notion. subject. It brings home the conflicting message of priva- It is the life-threatening reality they deal with every day. In tization through the gripping portrayal of human beings this episodic documentary, Florian Opitz examines the around the world directly affected by these often inhuman consequences of privatization – often forced by institu- and misguided efforts to boost economic growth. tions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund – on real individuals in various parts of the Genre Society Category Documentary Cinema Year of world. Minda, for instance, is struggling to find money for Production 2006 Director Florian Opitz Director of the dialysis her son needs twice a week because Philippine Photography Andy Lehmann Editor Niko Remus Producers health care has been largely privatized and the poor don’t Felix Blum, Arne Ludwig Production Company Disco- have access to it anymore. Bongani and his team of “elec- film/Cologne, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg, BR/Munich tro-guerillas” roam their South African township and ille- Length 94 min, 2,679 m Format DV transferred to 35 mm, gally restore electricity to homes of people too poor to pay color, 1:1.85 Sound Technology Dolby Stereo Original their bills to the now privatized supplier. And Simon Version English With backing from Filmstiftung NRW humorously relates his adventures as a train driver, first for British Rail, and then for countless other firms that come Florian Opitz, born in 1973 in Saarbruecken, is a freelance docu- and go with a regularity that has long disappeared from mentary filmmaker, author and journalist. After studies in History, the train schedule. The victory of the citizens of Psychology and English in Cologne and Heidelberg, he started work- Cochabamba, Bolivia, against a mighty US corporation ing for several European broadcasters. He also instructs Docu- that tried to control the municipal water supply adds a mentary Film classes at different German universities. His films in- note of hope to the film. The interwoven storylines are clude: Jack Kerouac – The Life of the Writer (1999), contrasted with interviews with “the other side,” those res- Women in Hitler’s Army (1999), Tibet – Myth and ponsible for the privatizations and with comments by Reality (2001), Goliath’s Nightmare – Protest Against Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, who left the ranks of the Globalism Since Genua 2001 (2002), Blood for Oil. The doers to fight for the losers. Wars for the Black Gold (2003), The Hunt for the Killer Virus (2005), The Last Days on the Western Front (2005), and The Big Sellout (2006), among others.

World Sales Bavaria Film International · Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH · Thorsten Schaumann Bavariafilmplatz 8 · 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 · fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 email: [email protected] · www.bavaria-film-international.com german films quarterly new german films

4 · 2006 38 Bummm! – Deine Familie, Dein Schlachtfeld BUMMM! – YOUR FAMILY, THE BATTLEFIELD Scene from “Bummm!” (photo © TV60 Film) Scene from

He has a wonderful family he barely ever sees anymore. Production Companies BurkertBareiss Development/ He has a great job. He has a lovely home. Then … Munich, TV60 Film/Munich, in co-production with C-Films/Zurich, Bummm! – he gets fired. Art is his wife’s passion and her GFP Medienfonds/Berlin, SWR/Baden-Baden, BR/Munich, profession. Is she really honest to her man? And who are SF/Zurich Principal Cast Ulrich Noethen, Katja Riemann, the new neighbors? Joseph Mattes, Hannah Herzsprung Casting Simone Baer, Lore Bloessl Length 103 min, 3,036 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 His kids have their own attitudes to life. He treats them all Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound as if they were his employees until the situation gets out Technology Dolby Stereo With backing from MFG Baden- of hand for all of them. Wuerttemberg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern

Bummm! His son Linus blows up the neighbor’s sculpture Alain Gsponer was born in 1976 in Zurich/Switzerland. He stu- and sets fire to the house. Bummm! His wife moves to her died Audiovisual Design at the School for Design in Bern from 1996- friend Claudia for the time being. 1997 and Directing at the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg from 1997-2002. He has worked as an assistant director for Mike Every end leads to a new beginning and everything stays Schaerer in New York, and as a journalist for Radio Kanal K in in motion all the time. Aarau, where he is also co-owner of the cinema Freier Film. His films include: Gezeichnet fuer immer (short, 1994), Fuer... Genre Tragicomedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of (short, 1994), Hundeleben (short, 1994), Hans Zulauf und Production 2006 Director Alain Gsponer Screenplay sein Schuehuesli (short, 1995), Balljammer (1996), Roter Alexander Buresch, Matthias Pacht Director of Photography Adi (short, 1997), Heidi (short, 1998), Aria (short, 1998), Matthias Fleischer Editor Melanie Werwie Music by Marius Felix Polen (1999), X fuer U (short, 2000), Hinter dem Berg Lange Production Design Renate Schmaderer Producers (2001), his graduation film Kiki & Tiger (2002), Rose (2005), Andreas Bareiss, Gloria Burkert, Bernd Burgemeister Co- and Bummm! (2006). Producers David Groenewold, Andi Huber, Peter Reichenbach

4 · 2006 39 Celebration of Flight: The Dream of a Pilot Scene from “Celebration ofScene from Films) Flight” (photo © Lombardo

Celebration of Flight is about a very rare sort of adven- Genre Adventure, Biopic Category Documentary Cinema turer you are unlikely to find today. Year of Production 2006 Director Lara Juliette Sanders Screenplay Lara Juliette Sanders Directors of Photography A film about a pilot who flew sheiks and kings like Haille Ralf Leistl, Michael Boxrucker Editors Klaus Schaefer, Jean-Claude Selassie or the King of Yemen. A film about the oldest Piroué Music by Gary Marlowe Producer Lara Juliette Sanders dream of mankind and the only remaining dream of an Production Company Lombardo Films/Munich Length 78 old man: at the age of 78, Daniel Rundstroem wants to min Format DigiBeta, color, 16:9 Original Version English build his own plane in the middle of the tropical forest, on Sound Technology Stereo German Distributor Lombardo Dominica, an island paradise in the Caribbean. Films/Munich

It is also a film about a unique friendship between a 78- Lara Juliette Sanders studied Journalism and Business year-old Swede and a 16-year-old native boy from the Management in Munich, followed by work as an editor and com- Caribbean Sea. They share one desire for which they are missioning editor for several departments at the broadcasters WDR willing to sacrifice everything: to develop and build their and tm3. Thereafter she began developing international series, very own aircraft. magazines and features for Bavaria Films, ZDF and BR and started working in continuity and as an assistant director. Since 2000 she has With it, they are planning to take part in one of the world’s worked as a junior producer and assistant director for Haifisch biggest air shows for airplane designers in Florida and win Entertainment/Munich, and as an assistant director on the series Ein a prize. Their only goal is success. Fall fuer zwei. Celebration of Flight (2006) marks her own directorial debut. She is currently directing, producing and co-pro- For the boy, it is the beginning of all his dreams. For the ducing for Lombardo Films/Munich. old man, it is his very last dream. And it’s the legacy of a father-and-son relationship. However for Daniel it is not only the building of an airplane. It is much more: a review of his life, the reunion with his lost son and the memories of his past adventures …

World Sales (please contact) Lombardo Films GmbH Tengstrasse 22 · 80798 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-21 66 76 36 · fax +49-89-21 66 76 37 email: [email protected] · www.lombardofilms.com german films quarterly new german films

Cousins. Words between chairs. Voice to the piano. Film Winter 2006, Achtung Berlin 2006, FEMINA Brasil 2006, Fingertips grope sense. Bridges too high. Personal collage Expresion en Corto Mexico 2006, Cork 2006 Awards 3sat about a hidden and hiding love. Promotion Award Oberhausen 2005, Best Short Flensburg 2005, Lili – Design Award 2005, Best Student Film FEMINA 2006, Best “The film convinces by its rhythmic montage of images and International Documentary Expresion en Corto Mexico 2006 sounds, combining documentary and fiction material in an un- German Distributor Maria Mohr Film/Berlin usual way. Autobiographic fragments form a poetic picture of a 'forbidden love'.” Maria Mohr was born in 1974 in Mainz. She studied Architecture (Jury statement, Oberhausen 2005) from 1994-1998 in Darmstadt and Paris. Since 2005, she has been studying Experimental Media Design at the Berlin University of Arts. Genre Experimental Category Short Year of Production 2005 Director Maria Mohr Screenplay Maria Mohr Director of Photography Maria Mohr Editor Maria Mohr Producer Maria Mohr Production Company Maria Mohr Film/Berlin Principal Cast Maria Michel, Maria Mohr, Johannes Lessmann Length 20 min, 548 m Format DV PAL, color, 4:3 Original Version German Subtitled Versions English, French Sound Technology Stereo Festival Screenings Oberhausen 2005, Exis Seoul 2005, European Short Film Biennale Ludwigsburg 2005, Kurzfilmtage Flensburg 2005, Leipzig 2005, Art Film Biennale Cologne 2005, Kassel Documentary & Video Fest 2005, Stuttgart

World Sales (please contact) Maria Mohr Film Mehringdamm 49 · 10961 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-81 89 68 97 · email: [email protected] · www.mariamohr.de

german films quarterly new german films

4 · 2006 41 ein Sommer lang ONE LONG SUMMER Scene from “One Long Summer” Scene from (photo © Muenchner Filmwerkstatt/Julia Daschner)

One Long Summer tells the story of Vroni who, as the Rita Schwarze Music by Olaf Taranczewski Production summer slowly unfolds, experiences her first love in a Design Stefan Westerwelle, Petra Becker Producer Martin small Bavarian village. Blankemeyer Production Companies Muenchner Filmwerk- statt/Munich, Academy of Media Arts (KHM)/Cologne Principal Apart from the daily monotony of farmhouse chores and Cast Alina Sokar, Sophie Pfluegler, Andrea Dengler, Angelika shy conversations about boys and sex that she has with Bender, Benjamin Maehrlein Length 29 min, 782 m Format her friend Gerti, Vroni finds herself drawn, again and Super 16 mm, color, 1:1.78 Original Version German again, to the woods, to the caravan of Ales, the young Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Stereo Czech puppeteer. Festival Screenings Hof 2006 With backing from Jugend fuer Europa, Aktion Mensch 5000 x Zukunft, FilmFernsehFonds Using a quiet visual language, with soft almost dream-like Bayern sequences, One Long Summer shows the sweet melan- choly of first love and the dusty, dragging summers of Steffi Niederzoll was born in 1981 in Nuremberg and studies at childhood that seemed to be endless. the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) Cologne. Her films include: Je cherche Armand (documentary short, 2001), Rio von der Genre Coming-of-Age Story Category Short Year of Pro- Motz (documentary short, 2003), Petuhtanten (documentary duction 2006 Director Steffi Niederzoll Screenplay Steffi short, 2004), Als zoege die Landschaft (short, 2005), and Niederzoll Director of Photography Julia Daschner Editor One Long Summer (ein Sommer lang, 2006).

World Sales (please contact) Muenchner Filmwerkstatt e.V. · Martin Blankemeyer Postfach 860 525 · 81632 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-20 33 37 12 · fax +49-7 21-1 51 37 76 29 email: [email protected] · www.muenchner-filmwerkstatt.de german films quarterly new german films

Karl and Hans couldn’t be more different. Karl is a young Pool/Berlin, in co-production with Film 1/Berlin, TELEPOOL/ mathematician with a promising career at an insurance Munich Principal Cast Daniel Bruehl, Juergen Vogel, Sabine company, whereas the man-about-town Hans only takes Timoteo Casting Nessie Nesslauer Length 84 min, 2,289 m up the odd job to get by. When they meet, Hans asks Karl Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German Sub- whether he is happy. Karl doesn’t know what to reply until titled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SRD Hans shows him what makes him happy: ice cream, girls, Festival Screenings Hamburg 2006 (Opening Film) With coffee, airplanes, the fastest backwards driving car in the backing from Filmstiftung NRW, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), world, and driving a Porsche at night in the nude along the FilmFoerderung Hamburg, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, BKM, Autobahn, for example. For Hans “friendship” means to MEDIA German Distributor X Verleih/Berlin share everything, even Stelle, the queen of his heart. This is too much for Karl. But then, you can’t just get rid of a Sebastian Schipper studied Acting at the Falckenburg Schule in friend like Hans, and a woman like Stelle is unforgett- Munich before he shot his first short Wunderhell in 1994. A year able … later, he directed his second short Heldensommer and appeared in a small role in The English Patient in 1996. Gigantic Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of (Absolute Giganten, 1999) was his feature directorial debut, Production 2006 Director Sebastian Schipper Screenplay followed by A Friend of Mine (Ein Freund von mir, 2006). Sebastian Schipper Director of Photography Oliver His acting credits include: Maja (1996), Wintersleepers Bokelberg Editor Jeffrey Marc Harkavy Music by Gravenhurst (Winterschlaefer, 1997), Run Lola Run (Lola rennt, 1998), Eine unge- Production Design Andrea Kessler Producers Maria Koepf, horsame Frau (TV, 1998), and Der Koenig von St. Pauli (TV, 1998). Tom Tykwer Production Company X Filme Creative

4 · 2006 43 Hui Buh – Das Schlossgespenst HUI BUH – THE GOOFY GHOST Scene from “Hui Buh” (photo Film) © RatScene from Pack

For more than 30 years, the highly entertaining exploits of Genre Comedy, Family, Fantasy Category Feature Film Cinema Hui Buh – The Goofy Ghost have delighted entire German Year of Production 2006 Director Sebastian Niemann families. Over 25 million copies of books, records, cas- Screenplay Sebastian Niemann, Dirk Ahner Director of settes and audio books have been sold so far, making it Photography Gerhard Schirlo Editor Moune Barius Music by Germany’s best-selling title ever for children. Egon Riedel Production Design Matthias Muesse Producer Christian Becker Production Company Rat Pack Film- Equipped with his treasured Haunting License, the goofy produktion/Munich, in co-production with GFP Medienfonds/ ghost Hui Buh has been haunting the halls of Castle Berlin Principal Cast Michael “Bully” Herbig, Christoph Maria Burgeck for over 500 years. The poor ghost is really any- Herbst, Heike Makatsch, Ellenie Salvo, Nick Brimble, Hans Clarin, thing but scary. It’s only now, in 1899, that he’s given the Rick Kavanian Casting Emrah Ertem Length 103 min, 2,806 m chance to prove his ghostly skills … Format 35 mm, color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital King Julius the 111th has come to the ancient castle to pre- With backing from Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), pare a huge party for his soon-to-be fiancée, the Countess FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, BayerischerBankenFonds German Leonora, who, it turns out, has secretly hatched a dia- Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich bolical plan to steal all the King’s wealth. Sebastian Niemann has a number of feature films and TV Hui Buh’s attempts to terrorize the intruders fall complete- movies to his credit, including Seven Days to Live (Du lebst ly flat, and even worse, the King succeeds in ridding the noch 7 Tage, 2000) and The Hunt for the Hidden Relic castle’s ancient halls of the comical but troublesome spook (Das Jesus Video, 2002). He also took home the Special Prize of by burning his precious Haunting License. It’s only after the European Broadcasters’ Jury at the Brussels International King Julius discovers that he’s broke and that he needs Hui Festival of Fantasy Film in the category of Best Director for the TV Buh’s help that the two decide to pool their questionable movie Verfolger (1994). Hui Buh (2006) is his second feature talents to regain their realms. film.

World Sales Beta Cinema · Dept. of Beta Film GmbH · Andreas Rothbauer Gruenwalder Weg 28 d · 82041 Oberhaching/Germany phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 · fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 email: [email protected] · www.betacinema.com german films quarterly new german films

4 · 2006 44 Kein Platz fuer Gerold NO ROOM FOR GEROLD Scene from “No Room for Gerold” (photo “No Room for © Studio Film Bilder) Gerold” Scene from

After ten long years in the flat, Gerold the crocodile is Daniel Nocke was born 1968 in Hamburg and studied at the Film being thrown out. Is there a conspiracy against him? Does Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg from 1994-1999. He lives and newcomer Ellen the wildebeest have something to do works as script writer and animation director in Hamburg. with it? One thing is for sure – the wild days are now just a distant memory.

Genre Animation Category Short Year of Production 2006 Director Daniel Nocke Screenplay Daniel Nocke Ani- mation Anja Perl, Heidi Wittlinger, Volker Willmann Producer Thomas Meyer-Hermann Production Company Studio Film Bilder/Stuttgart Length 5 min, 137 m Format 35 mm, color, 4:3 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Stereo Festival Screenings Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart 2006, Oberhausen 2006, Annecy 2006, Anima Mundi Rio 2006, Ruesselsheimer Filmtage 2006, Pix Ars Electronica Linz 2006, Emden 2006, Shorts at Moonlight Hofheim 2006, Milan 2006, Detmold 2006, Norwich 2006, Bradford 2006, Sitges 2006, Uppsala 2006 Awards Award of Distinction Linz 2006, Special Mention Oberhausen 2006, Jury Award Hofheim 2006 With backing from MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), Kuratorium junger deutscher Film German Distributor Studio Film Bilder/Stuttgart

World Sales (please contact) Studio Film Bilder · Sonja Waldraff Ostendstrasse 106 · 70188 Stuttgart/Germany phone +49-7 11-48 10 27 · fax +49-7 11-48 91 25 email: [email protected] · www.filmbilder.de german films quarterly new german films

In the comedy Lumber Kings, the lovely and charismatic Matthias Keilich was born in 1965 in Calw/Baden- loser Krischan comes back to his working class village Wuerttemberg. After his schooling, he worked as a sculptor in Tanne, planning to hold a lumber jack competition there. Stuttgart and Freiburg. In 1993, he enrolled in the German Film & He manages not only to overcome the massive resistance Television Academy (dffb) in Berlin where he studied Scriptwriting of his old friends Ronnie and Bert, but also transforms the and Direction. During his studies, he made such films as Wer aus- whole village, saving it from a state of stagnancy and re- steigt hat verloren (1996), Tod in New York (1996) and signation. Zu (1998). Neither Fish, Nor Fowl (Nicht Fisch, nicht Fleisch, 2001) was his first feature-length film as well as his gra- Genre Social Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of duation film from the dffb, followed by Lumber Kings (Die Production 2006 Director Matthias Keilich Screenplay Koenige der Nutzholzgewinnung, 2006). Khyana el Bitar, Matthias Keilich Director of Photography Henning Stirner Editor Gergana Voigt Music by Neil Filby Production Design Petra Albert Producer Nicole Gerhards Production Company NiKo Film/Berlin, in co-production with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz Principal Cast Bjarne Ingmar Maedel, Frank Auerbach, Steven Merting, Barbara Philipp, Christina Grosse, Peter Sodann Casting Karen Wendland Length 94 min, 2,538 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR With backing from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung German Distributor Neue Visionen Filmverleih/Berlin

World Sales (please contact) NiKo Film · Nicole Gerhards, Matthias Keilich Rungestrasse 22 · 10179 Berlin/Germany phone +49-30-27 58 28 36 · fax +49-30-27 58 28 72 email: [email protected] · www.nikofilm.de german films quarterly new german films

Life with Hannah is anything but easy. She is young and Production Design Birgit Esser Producer Titus Kreyenberg pretty, but also deeply mysterious and enigmatic. Floating Production Company unafilm/Cologne, in co-production with between her bare apartment and gloomy photo lab, she ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel/Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg Principal has wrapped herself in a cocoon of inapproachability. Cast Nina Hoss, Isabel Bongard, Wolfram Koch, Matthias Brandt, Neither her work colleagues nor her partner, daughter or Marie-Lou Sellem, Milan Peschel Casting Anja Dihrberg Length parents can pierce Hannah’s armor of rules, rituals and 85 min, 2, 325 m Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original barriers. Version German Subtitled Version English Sound Technology Optical Stereo Festival Screenings Hof 2006 As this artificial sense of security is successively infiltrated With backing from Filmstiftung NRW by an anonymous stranger, Hannah’s life slowly but surely turns into a thriller that will blur the boundaries be- Erica von Moeller was born in Wiesbaden in 1968. After stu- tween real danger and her inner demons. In her quest to dying Fine Arts at the University of Mainz, she went on to study Film confront the invisible enemy, Hannah re-establishes at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. A winner of numerous contact with her past and her equally repressed present. awards, her films include: mariemarie (short, 1999), Nora and Anna (1999), One Summer (short, 2002), Sainkho (docu- Genre Melodrama Category Feature Film Cinema Year of mentary, 2002), For the Moment (short, 2004), Bittersweet Production 2006 Director Erica von Moeller Screenplay Breath (2005), and Living with Hannah (Leben mit Soenke Lars Neuwoehner Director of Photography Sophie Hannah, 2006). Maintigneux Editor Gesa Marten Music by Axel Schweppe

World Sales (please contact) unafilm · Titus Kreyenberg Georgstrasse 15-17 · 50676 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-3 48 02 80 · fax +49-2 21-3 48 02 81 email: [email protected] · www.unafilm.de german films quarterly new german films

In the Ruhr Area, one of Germany’s key industrial regions, Editor Guido Krajewski Music by Maciej Sledziecki Producers the famous “heartbeat of steel” has gone silent. A few Michael Loeken, Ulrike Franke Production Company filmpro- years after the hypermodern coke plant at Kaiserstuhl, duktion loekenfranke/Cologne, in co-production with WDR- built at a cost of 650 million Euros, was shut down, 400 ARTE/Cologne, Goethe-Institut/Munich Length 96 min, 2,736 m Chinese workers start breaking it down into manageable Format DV Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version parts to ship them back to their homeland: disassembly in German/Chinese Subtitled Version English Sound the West – reassembly in the Far East. Where up to 800 Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Leipzig 2006, people used to work, the last 30 German employees are Duisburg 2006, Luenen 2006 With backing from Filmstiftung now supervising the so-called Shutdown Department. NRW German Distributor filmproduktion loekenfranke/ Communication between the two groups is difficult. Cologne Highly motivated people from a low-wage country come face-to-face with financially better-off workers in an indu- Ulrike Franke was born in 1970 in Dortmund and studied strialized nation who are now suddenly bereft of future Theater, Film & Television Studies in Cologne. She then worked on prospects. Filmmakers Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken several television and film productions as well as independent work watched as the gigantic industrial site was dismantled, in scriptwriting and documentaries. Since 1996, she has been active documenting the stories that accompanied its disappear- as a screenplay writer, director and producer. ance. Michael Loeken was born in 1954 in Neviges and studied Two worlds collide. Who is ultimately the winner and who Theater, Film & Television Studies in Cologne. In 1981, he wrote the the loser when a whole region of Germany experiences screenplay for and directed the documentary Ich hatte schon first-hand the impact of globalization, while in the Middle begonnen die Freiheit zu vergessen and worked as a Empire new visions come and go with each passing day? recording supervisor for numerous documentary and feature films.

Genre Environmental/Ecology, Society Category Documentary Their films together include Und vor mir die Sterne (1998), Cinema Year of Production 2006 Directors Ulrike Franke, Herr Schmidt und Herr Friedrich (2001), Soldaten- Michael Loeken Screenplay Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken glueck und Gottes Segen (2001), and Losers and Directors of Photography Michael Loeken, Ruediger Spott Winners (2006).

World Sales german united distributors Programmvertrieb GmbH · Bettina Oebel Breite Strasse 48-50 · 50667 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-9 20 69 31 · fax +49-2 21-9 20 69 69 email: [email protected] · www.germanunited.com · www.losers-and-winners.net german films quarterly new german films

Kevin is proud to be able to present his award-winning Munich, Constantin Film/Munich, BR/Munich Principal Cast “mind machine” to his schoolmates and teachers. But after Jannis Niewoehner, Jonathan Duemcke, Lukas Eichhammer, Svea a few confused sentences, he runs off the stage of the Bein, Hauke Diekamp, Juergen Vogel, Ulrich Noethen Casting An auditorium. Then his friend Nadine disappears. There’s no Dorthe Braker Length 117 min, 3,195 m Format 35 mm, color, time to lose – it’s a case for TKKG! Tim, Klumpling, Karl cs Original Version German Subtitled Version English and Gabby take advantage of an outing to undertake a Sound Technology Dolby SRD With backing from daring search for the lost children. They sneak into the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, BayerischerBankenFonds, Film- empty, dilapidated house of Kevin’s parents, and what foerderungsanstalt (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg they discover there takes their breath away: a new proto- German Distributor Constantin Film Verleih/Munich type of the spectacular mind machine! The quartet begins to suspect that this could be the reason for the disappear- Tomy Wigand studied at the Academy of Television & Film in ances. But who’s behind all this? And what role is Mr. Munich from 1976-1979. He directed three shorts – Pangratz, Manek, the biology teacher, playing here? Is Kevin con- Lotte and Unter Maennern – before making his TV film debut spiring with him? Their investigations take TKKG deeper in 1981 with Ein bisschen was Schoenes. He served as the and deeper into the mystery of the mind machine and on film editor on Roland Emmerich’s The Noah’s Ark Principle (1983), the track of a sinister experiment. It’s the beginning of an Joey (1985), and Moon 44 (1990), and wrote the screenplay for adventurous journey of discovery into a bizarre world of Hans W. Geissendoerfer’s adaptation of Duerrenmatt’s Justiz. Since real and virtual surprises … 1993, Wigand has directed episodes for daily soaps (Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten and Verbotene Liebe) and TV action series (Alarm Genre Family, Teens Category Feature Film Cinema Year of fuer Cobra 11) as well as Twiggy, Liebe auf Diaet (TV, 1997), Production 2006 Director Tomy Wigand Screenplay Marco Picknick im Schnee (TV, 1999), Soccer Rules! (Fussball Petry, Burt Weinshanker, based on the original work by Stefan Wolf ist unser Leben, 2000), Winter of Regret (Nicht heu- Director of Photography Egon Werdin Editor Christian len, Husky, TV, 2000), The Flying Classroom (Das flie- Nauheimer Production Design Uwe Szielasko, Pan Patellis gende Klassenzimmer, 2002), and TKKG and the Producer Uschi Reich Production Company Bavaria Film- Mysterious Mind Machine (TKKG – Das Geheimnis verleih- & Produktion/Munich, in co-production with Lunaris Film/ um die raetselhafte Mind-Machine, 2006).

4 · 2006 49 Tod in der Siedlung Scene from “Tod in der Siedlung” “Tod Scene from (photo courtesy of Colonia Media)

While Schimanski is buying his after-work six-pack at a Genre Drama, Thriller Category TV Movie Year of petrol station, 14-year-old Lena Krawe approaches him Production 2006 Director Torsten C. Fischer Screenplay with a pretty clear offer. “It’s already gone that far,” Horst Vocks, Lars Boehme, in cooperation with Torsten C. Fischer Schimanski says to himself. He starts to take a different Director of Photography Hagen Bogdanski Editor Benjamin look at the area he and Lena are living in. Suddenly, a car Hembus Music by Fabian Roemer Production Design Stefan is set on fire, right next to where he lives. Schimanski Schoenberg Producer Sonja Goslicki Production Company knows immediately that this didn’t happen accidentally. It Colonia Media/Cologne Principal Cast Goetz George, Julian was murder! The victim was a known local emplyoment Weigend, Chiem van Houweninge, Denise Virieux, Matthias Brandt, agent, Matthias Zimmermann. Almost everybody disliked Julia Jaeger, Ronald Zehrfeld, Katharina Schuettler Casting Anja him, especially the girls. Schimanski is convinced that Dihrberg Length 90 min Format Super 16 mm/DigiBeta, color, there is more than simple revenge behind the façade of 16:9 Original Version German Sound Technology Stereo unemployment, gambling and prostitution. He knows those people quite well, they are at the lower end of Torsten C. Fischer studied Art History, Philosophy and Theater society, but they would never just simply kill someone. He in Berlin, followed by studies at the German Academy of Film & meets Lena’s dad, who lost everything by gambling. Television. A selection of his films includes: Die fliegende Schimanski knows that Lena’s dad has a fitting motive for Kinder (1992), Berlin, 10:46 (TV, 1994), Nina (TV, 1997), the murder, but he doesn’t believe Krawe is capable of kil- Doppeltes Dreieck (TV, 1998-1999), the Doppelter Einsatz epi- ling anyone. Another murder happens at a building site sode Mond, Schwarzblutrot (1999), Der Anwalt und nearby. The dead worker had close connections to sein Gast (TV, 2002), Mr. and Mrs. Right (TV, 2003), Der Zimmermann. Schimanski is confronted by a riddle he is Liebeswunsch (2004), the Tatort episode Dreh dich nicht determined to solve. um (2005), and the Schimanski episode Tod in der Siedlung (2006).

World Sales (please contact) Colonia Media Filmproduktions GmbH Moltkestrasse 131 · 50674 Cologne/Germany phone +49-2 21-9 51 40 40 · fax +49-2 21-9 51 40 44 email: [email protected] · www.coloniamedia.de german films quarterly new german films

4 · 2006 50 Wer frueher stirbt ist laenger tot GRAVE DECISIONS Scene from “Grave Decisions” (photo © Roxy Film) “Grave Decisions” (photoScene from © Roxy

You can never be too young to be a murderer, thinks 11- Tonkel, Jule Ronstedt, Markus Krojer, Saskia Vester Casting year-old Sebastian, who’s convinced that he killed his Nessie Nesslauer Length 102 min, 3,036 m Format 35 mm, mother at the age of 0. The proof is on her tombstone: she color, cs Original Version German Subtitled Version died the day he was born! Though his father Lorenz tries English Sound Technology Dolby Digital Festival to calm him, Sebastian is terrified by the thought of spen- Screenings Munich 2006 Awards German Film Promotion Award ding years in purgatory. Hoping to knock off a few years Munich 2006 (Best Direction) With backing from by doing good deeds, he sets out to find a wife for his dad. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA), The heavens must be listening, since Lorenz and Kuratorium junger deutscher Film German Distributor Sebastian’s teacher Veronika both fall madly in love with Movienet Film/Munich each other. The only problem is: Veronika is married. But since Sebastian already killed his mother, surely it’ll be Marcus H. Rosenmueller was born in 1973 in Tegernsee and easy to kill a stranger … studied at the Academy of Television & Film in Munich. A selection of his films includes: Nur Schreiner machen Frauen Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of gluecklich (short, 1999), Kuemmel & Korn (short, 2000), Production 2006 Director Marcus H. Rosenmueller Screen- Hotel Deepa (short, 2002), C’est la vie (short, 2003), Den play Marcus H. Rosenmueller, Christian Lerch Director of Frieden in der Hand (TV, 2003, in co-direction with Joseph Photography Stefan Biebl Editors Anja Pohl, Susanne Vilsmaier), Almrauschen – Leben und Lieder auf der Hartmann Music by Gerd Baumann Production Design Alm (TV, 2004), Drachen und andere Originale (TV, 2004), Michael Koening Producers Andreas Richter, Annie Brunner, Grave Decisions (Wer frueher stirbt ist laenger tot, Ursula Woerner Production Company Roxy Film/Munich, in 2006), and The Best Way Up Is Down! (Schwere Jungs, co-production with BR/Munich Principal Cast Fritz Karl, Juergen 2006).

4 · 2006 51 Wo ist Fred? WHERE IS FRED? Scene from “Where is Fred?” (photo © Walter Wehner) (photo © Walter is Fred?” “Where Scene from

Fred wants to get married to Mara, who is a single parent. Bioskop Film & Erste Produktionsgesellschaft/Munich, in co-pro- The hitch is that Mara’s son Linus hates Fred and is bent duction with SevenPictures/Munich, Senator Film Produktion/ on getting rid of this unwanted male competition. There is Berlin, Munich Animation/Munich, Bioskop Film/Munich, Neue only one way to win Linus’ favor: to get him an original Bioskop Film/Munich Principal Cast Til Schweiger, Juergen basketball personally signed by ALBA-Berlin superstar Vogel, Alexandra Maria Lara, Christoph Maria Herbst, Anja Kling Mercurio Mueller. And the only place to get it is the handi- Casting Emrah Ertem Length 111 min, 3,041 m Format 35 capped tribune, where Mercurio Mueller throws the ball mm, color, 1:1.85 Original Version German Subtitled after each record basket. Fred sees no other option: he Version English Sound Technology Dolby Digital With needs to pretend to be handicapped in order to gain backing from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Medienboard Berlin- access to the handicapped tribune. When Fred actually Brandenburg, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA) German catches the ball he is the star of the evening. The following Distributor Senator Film Verleih/Berlin media hype forces him to lead an exhausting and comical double life in the course of which he finally finds his true Anno Saul was born in 1963 in Bonn. He initially studied at the love. Jesuit College for Philosophy in Munich, followed by studies from 1985-1990 at the Academy of Television & Film, also in Munich. His Genre Comedy Category Feature Film Cinema Year of films include: Unter Freunden (short, 1990), Und morgen Production 2006 Director Anno Saul Screenplay Cinco faengt das Leben an (TV, 1995), Alte Liebe - Alte Paul, Ken Daurio, Bora Dagtekin Director of Photography Suende (TV, 1996), Blind Date (TV, 1997), Zur Zeit zu Peter Nix Editor Tobias Haas Music by Marcel Barsotti zweit (TV, 1998), Green Desert (Gruene Wueste, 1999), Production Design Florian Lutz Producer Philip Voges Die Novizin (TV, 2002), Kebab Connection (2004), Executive Producers Eberhard Junkersdorf, Dietmar Where is Fred? (Wo ist Fred?, 2006), as well as numerous Guentsche, Stefan Gaertner, Matthias Emcke Production industrial and advertising films. Companies Hofmann & Voges Entertainment/Munich, Neue

4 · 2006 52 Zeit ohne Eltern TIME WITHOUT PARENTS Scene from “Time Without Parents” (photo © Kunsthochschule fuer (photo Medien Koeln) © Kunsthochschule Without Parents” “Time Scene from

Two daughters, two pairs of parents, two families rep- Twenty years later, upon the daughters’ insistence, the resenting an estimated figure of some one million affected parents and children come back together and talk about people in the former GDR. what happened back then …

Time Without Parents tells the story of Jana Simon and Genre Drama, Family, History Category Documentary Cinema Franziska Kriebisch who both grew up in the GDR. They Year of Production 2005 Director Celia Rothmund didn’t know each other but shared the same fate of being Screenplay Celia Rothmund Directors of Photography separated from their parents from one day to the next Justyna Feicht, Yoliswa Gaertig Editors Fabienne Westhoff, Celia after the secret police arrested them. Jana’s parents are Rothmund Music by Maciej Sledziecki Producer Celia arrested after trying to escape with their children; Rothmund Production Company Kunsthochschule fuer Franziska’s parents are arrested after applying for an exit Medien Koeln (KHM)/Cologne, in co-production with ZDF/Mainz, visa. Franziska and Jana were both 10-years-old at the 3sat/Mainz With Franziska Kriebisch, Jana Birner Length 70 min, time. Jana and her brother are taken to an orphanage; 1,800 m Format DigiBeta Blow-up 35 mm, color, 1:1.66 Franziska and her brother are then raised by their grand- Original Version German Subtitled Version English Sound parents. Technology Dolby SR Festival Screenings Hof 2005, Ophuels Festival Saarbruecken 2006 (In Competition), Montreal One year later, both pairs of parents are released. The 2006, Dokumentart Neubrandenburg 2006, Cologne Conference Kriebisch’s freedom is paid for by West Germany. The 2006, Sehsuechte Potsdam 2006 With backing from Simons continued to live under observation until the fall Filmstiftung NRW, Thueringer Staatskanzlei German Distri- of the Wall. But a normal family life is no longer possible. butor Yeti Film/Berlin The experiences leave their mark and both families fall apart. Since then, no one has talked about what actually Celia Rothmund was born in 1974 in Freiburg. After studies in happened. Media Arts/Film and Art History in Karlsruhe, she completed post- graduate studies in Film & Television at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) Cologne. Her films include: Portraets (documentary short, 2001), Eine Reise zurueck (documentary, 2002), and Time Without Parents (Zeit ohne Eltern, 2005).

World Sales ValueFilms Licensing GmbH · Dirk Hamm Hafenstrasse 11 · 8280 Kreuzlingen/Switzerland phone +41-71-6 70 16 30 · fax +41-71-6 70 16 20 email: [email protected] · www.valuefilms.net german films quarterly new german films

4 · 2006 53 features television documentaries shorts

www.german-films.de GERMAN FILMS SHAREHOLDERS & SUPPORTERS

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung Neuer Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V. fuer Kultur und Medien Association of New Feature Film Producers Referat K 35, Europahaus, Stresemannstrasse 94, Muenchner Freiheit 20, 80802 Munich/Germany 10963 Berlin/Germany phone +49-89-2 71 74 30, fax +49-89-2 71 97 28 phone +49-18 88-6 81 49 29, fax +49-18 88-68 15 49 29 email: [email protected], www.ag-spielfilm.de email: [email protected]

Filmfoerderungsanstalt FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH German Federal Film Board Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Medien Grosse Praesidentenstrasse 9, 10178 Berlin/Germany in Bayern phone +49-30-27 57 70, fax +49-30-27 57 71 11 Sonnenstrasse 21, 80331 Munich/Germany email: [email protected], www.ffa.de phone +49-89-54 46 02-0, fax +49-89-54 46 02 21 email: [email protected], www.fff-bayern.de

Verband Deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) FilmFoerderung Hamburg GmbH Association of German Film Exporters Friedensallee 14–16, 22765 Hamburg/Germany Tegernseer Landstrasse 75, 81539 Munich/Germany phone +49-40-39 83 70, fax +49-40-3 98 37 10 phone +49- 89-6 42 49 70, fax +49-89-6 92 09 10 email: [email protected], www.ffhh.de email: [email protected], www.vdfe.de

Verband Deutscher Spielfilmproduzenten e.V. Filmstiftung NRW GmbH Association of German Feature Film Producers Kaistrasse 14, 40221 Duesseldorf/Germany Beichstrasse 8, 80802 Munich/Germany phone +49-2 11-93 05 00, fax +49-2 11-93 05 05 phone +49-89-39 11 23, fax +49-89-33 74 32 email: [email protected], www.filmstiftung.de

Bundesverband Deutscher Fernsehproduzenten e.V. Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH Association of German Television Producers August-Bebel-Strasse 26-53, 14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg/Germany Brienner Strasse 26, 80333 Munich/Germany phone +49-3 31-74 38 70, fax +49-3 31-7 43 87 99 phone +49-89-28 62 83 85, fax +49-89-28 62 82 47 email: [email protected], www.medienboard.de email: [email protected], www.tv-produzenten.de

Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Potsdamer Strasse 2, 10785 Berlin/Germany Baden-Wuerttemberg mbH phone +49-30-30 09 03-0, fax +49-30-30 09 03-13 Breitscheidstrasse 4, 70174 Stuttgart/Germany email: [email protected], www.filmmuseum-berlin.de phone +49-7 11-90 71 54 00, fax +49-7 11-90 71 54 50 email: [email protected], www.mfg.de/film

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Dokumentarfilm e.V. Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung GmbH German Documentary Association Hainstrasse 17-19, 04109 Leipzig/Germany Schweizer Strasse 6, 60594 Frankfurt am Main/Germany phone +49-3 41-26 98 70, fax +49-3 41-2 69 87 65 phone +49-69-62 37 00, fax +49-61 42-96 64 24 email: [email protected], www.mdm-online.de email: [email protected], www.agdok.de

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kurzfilm e.V. nordmedia – Die Mediengesellschaft German Short Film Association Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH Kamenzer Strasse 60, 01099 Dresden/Germany Expo Plaza 1, 30539 Hanover/Germany phone +49-3 51-4 04 55 75, fax +49-3 51-4 04 55 76 phone +49-5 11-1 23 45 60, fax +49-5 11-12 34 56 29 email: [email protected], www.ag-kurzfilm.de email: [email protected], www.nordmedia.de

german films quarterly shareholders & supporters

4 · 2006 55 Das deutsch-französische Filmtreffen Les Rendez-vous franco-allemands du cinéma

Académie franco-allemande du cinéma · Deutsch-französische Filmakademie

A Meeting for German and French Producers, Distributors, Exhibitors

Munich 9 – 11 November 2006

French contact: [email protected] German contact: [email protected] ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN FILM EXPORTERS

Verband deutscher Filmexporteure e.V. (VDFE) · please contact Lothar Wedel Tegernseer Landstrasse 75 · 81539 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-6 42 49 70 · fax +49-89-6 92 09 10 · email: [email protected] · www.vdfe.de

Action Concept Film- & cine aktuell Progress Film-Verleih GmbH Stuntproduktion GmbH Filmgesellschaft mbH please contact Christel Jansen please contact Wolfgang Wilke please contact Ralf Faust, Axel Schaarschmidt Immanuelkirchstrasse 14b An der Hasenkaule 1-7 Werdenfelsstrasse 81 10405 Berlin/Germany 50354 Huerth/Germany 81377 Munich/Germany phone +49-30-24 00 32 25 phone +49-22 33-50 81 00 phone +49-89-7 41 34 30 fax +49-30-24 00 32 22 fax +49-22 33-50 81 80 fax +49-89-74 13 43 16 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.progress-film.de www.actionconcept.com www.cine-aktuell.de Road Sales GmbH ARRI Media Worldsales Cine-International Filmvertrieb Mediadistribution please contact Antonio Exacoustos GmbH & Co. KG please contact Frank Graf Tuerkenstrasse 89 please contact Lilli Tyc-Holm, Susanne Groh Chausseestrasse 8 80799 Munich/Germany Leopoldstrasse 18 10115 Berlin/Germany phone +49-89-38 09 12 88 80802 Munich/Germany phone +49-30-28 52 79 34 fax +49-89-38 09 16 19 phone +49-89-39 10 25 fax +49-30-28 52 79 39 email: [email protected] fax +49-89-33 10 89 email: [email protected] www.arri-mediaworldsales.de email: [email protected] www.road-movies.de www.cine-international.de Atlas International SOLA Media GmbH Film GmbH Exportfilm Bischoff & Co. GmbH please contact Solveig Langeland please contact please contact Jochem Strate, Osumstrasse 17 Stefan Menz, Philipp Menz Philip Evenkamp 70599 Stuttgart/Germany Candidplatz 11 Isabellastrasse 20 phone +49-7 11-4 79 36 66 81543 Munich/Germany 80798 Munich/Germany fax +49-7 11-4 79 26 58 phone +49-89-21 09 75-0 phone +49-89-2 72 93 60 email: [email protected] fax +49-89-22 43 32 fax +49-89-27 29 36 36 www.sola-media.net email: [email protected] email: [email protected] www.atlasfilm.com www.exportfilm.de TELEPOOL GmbH please contact Wolfram Skowronnek ATRIX Films GmbH german united distributors Sonnenstrasse 21 please contact Beatrix Wesle, Programmvertrieb GmbH 80331 Munich/Germany Solveig Langeland please contact Silke Spahr phone +49-89-55 87 60 Aggensteinstrasse 13a Breite Strasse 48-50 fax +49-89-55 87 62 29 81545 Munich/Germany 50667 Cologne/Germany email: [email protected] phone +49-89-64 28 26 11 phone +49-2 21-92 06 90 www.telepool.de fax +49-89-64 95 73 49 fax +49-2 21-9 20 69 69 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Transit Film GmbH www.atrix-films.com please contact Loy W. Arnold, Mark Gruenthal Kinowelt International GmbH Dachauer Strasse 35 Bavaria Film International Futura Film Weltvertrieb 80335 Munich/Germany Dept. of Bavaria Media GmbH im Filmverlag der Autoren GmbH phone +49-89-59 98 85-0 please contact Thorsten Schaumann please contact Stelios Ziannis, Anja Uecker fax +49-89-59 98 85-20 Bavariafilmplatz 8 Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 10 email: [email protected], 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany 04107 Leipzig/Germany [email protected] phone +49-89-64 99 26 86 phone +49-3 41-35 59 60 www.transitfilm.de fax +49-89-64 99 37 20 fax +49-3 41-35 59 64 19 email: [email protected] email: [email protected], uni media film gmbh www.bavaria-film-international.com [email protected] please contact Irene Vogt, Michael Waldleitner www.kinowelt-international.de Bavariafilmplatz 7 Beta Cinema 82031 Geiselgasteig/Germany Dept. of Beta Film GmbH Media Luna Entertainment phone +49-89-59 58 46 please contact Andreas Rothbauer GmbH & Co.KG fax +49-89-54 50 70 52 Gruenwalder Weg 28d please contact Ida Martins email: [email protected] 82041 Oberhaching/Germany Hochstadenstrasse 1-3 phone +49-89-67 34 69 80 50674 Cologne/Germany fax +49-89-6 73 46 98 88 phone +49-2 21-8 01 49 80 email: [email protected] fax +49-2 21-80 14 98 21 www.betacinema.com email: [email protected] www.medialuna-entertainment.de german films quarterly association of german film exporters

4 · 2006 57 GERMAN FILMS: A PROFILE

German Films Service + Marketing is the national infor- German Films’ range of activities includes: mation and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide. It was established in 1954 under the name Export-Union of Close cooperation with major international film festivals, in- German Cinema as the umbrella association for the Association of cluding Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Locarno, San German Feature Film Producers, since 1966 the Association of New Sebastian, Montreal, San Francisco, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, German Feature Film Producers and the Association of German Film Tribeca, Shanghai, Rotterdam, Sydney, Goteborg, Warsaw, Exporters, and operates today in the legal form of a limited company. Thessaloniki, Rome, and Turin, among others In 2004, new shareholders came on board the Export-Union which from then on continued operations under its present name: German Organization of umbrella stands for German sales companies Films Service + Marketing GmbH. and producers at international television and film markets

Shareholders are the Association of German Feature Film Staging of ”Festivals of German Films“ worldwide (Madrid, Producers, the Association of New German Feature Film Producers, Paris, London, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Melbourne, the Association of German Film Exporters, the German Federal Film Buenos Aires, Budapest, Moscow, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Board (FFA), the Association of German Television Producers, the Tokyo) Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the German Documentary Association, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW re- Providing advice and information for representatives of the presenting the seven main regional film funds, and the German Short international press and buyers from the fields of cinema, video, Film Association. and television

Members of the advisory board are: Alfred Huermer (chairman), Providing advice and information for German filmmakers and Peter Dinges, Antonio Exacoustos, Ulrike Schauz, Michael Schmid- press on international festivals, conditions of participation, and Ospach, and Michael Weber. German films being shown

German Films itself has 14 members of staff: Organization of the annual NEXT GENERATION short film Christian Dorsch, managing director program, which presents a selection of shorts by students of Mariette Rissenbeek, public relations/deputy managing director German film schools and is premiered every year at Cannes Petra Bader, office manager Kim Behrendt, PR assistant Publication of informational literature about current German Sandra Buchta, project coordinator/documentary film films and the German film industry (German Films Quarterly and Myriam Gauff, project coordinator German Films Yearbook), as well as international market analy- Simon Goehler, trainee ses and special festival brochures Christine Harrasser, assistant to the managing director Angela Hawkins, publications & website editor An Internet website (www.german-films.de) offering informa- Nicole Kaufmann, project coordinator tion about new German films, a film archive, as well as in- Michaela Kowal, accounts formation and links to German and international film festivals Martin Scheuring, project coordinator/short film and institutions Konstanze Welz, project coordinator/television Stephanie Wimmer, project coordinator/distribution support Organization of the selection procedure for the German entry for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film In addition, German Films has nine foreign representatives in eight countries. Collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO program which features the latest German film releases and inter- German Films’ budget of presently €5.5 million comes from film national productions in Germany export levies, the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and the FFA. The seven main regional film Organization of the ”Munich Previews“ geared toward funds (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, FilmFoerderung Hamburg, European arthouse distributors and buyers of German films Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden- Wuerttemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, and Nordmedia) Selective financial support for the foreign releases of German make a financial contribution – currently amounting to €300,000 – films towards the work of German Films. On behalf of the association Rendez-vous franco-allemands du German Films is a founding member of the European Film Promotion, cinéma, organization with Unifrance of the annual German- a network of 27 European film organizations (including Unifrance, French film meeting Swiss Films, Austrian Film Commission, Holland Film, among others) with similar responsibilities to those of German Films. The organiza- In association and cooperation with its shareholders, German Films tion, with its headquarters in Hamburg, aims to develop and realize works to promote feature, documentary, television and short films. joint projects for the presentation of European films on an international level.

german films quarterly german films: a profile

4 · 2006 58 FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES IMPRINT

Argentina Italy United Kingdom Gustav Wilhelmi Alessia Ratzenberger Iris Ordonez Ayacucho 495, 2º ”3“ Angeli Movie Service 37 Arnison Road C1026AAA Buenos Aires/Argentina Piazza San Bernardo 108a East Molesey KT8 9JR/Great Britain phone +54-11-49 52 15 37 00187 Rome/Italy phone +44-20-89 79 86 28 phone/fax +54-11-49 51 19 10 phone +39-06-48 90 70 75 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] fax +39-06-4 88 57 97 email: [email protected]

Eastern Europe Japan USA/East Coast & Canada Simone Baumann Tomosuke Suzuki Oliver Mahrdt L.E. Vision Film- und Nippon Cine TV Corporation c/o Hanns Wolters International Inc. Fernsehproduktion GmbH Suite 123, Gaien House 211 E 43rd Street, #505 Koernerstrasse 56 2-2-39 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku New York, NY 10017/USA 04107 Leipzig/Germany 150-0001 Tokyo/Japan phone +1-2 12-7 14 01 00 phone +49-3 41-96 36 80 phone +81-3-34 05 09 16 fax +1-2 12-6 43 14 12 fax +49-3 41-9 63 68 44 fax +81-3-34 79 08 69 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] email: [email protected]

USA/West Coast France Spain Corina Danckwerts Cristina Hoffman Stefan Schmitz Capture Film International, LLC 33, rue L. Gaillet C/ Atocha 43, bajo 1a 1726 N. Whitley Avenue 94250 Gentilly/France 28012 Madrid/Spain Los Angeles, CA 90028/USA phone +33-1-40 4108 33 phone +34-91-3 66 43 64 phone +1-3 23-9 62 67 10 fax +33-1-49 8644 18 fax +34-91-3 65 93 01 fax +1-3 23-9 62 67 22 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] email: [email protected]

German Films Quarterly is published by: Editor Angela Hawkins

German Films Production Reports Martin Blaney, Simon Kingsley Service + Marketing GmbH Herzog-Wilhelm-Strasse 16 Contributors for this issue Martin Blaney, Peter W. Jansen, Christina Kallas, 80331 Munich/Germany Hans-Guenther Pflaum, Thilo Wydra phone +49-89-5 99 78 70 fax +49-89-59 97 87 30 Translations Monica Munn-Schreml, Lucinda Rennison email: [email protected] www.german-films.de Design Group triptychon corporate communications gmbh, Munich/Germany ISSN 1614-6387 Art Direction Werner Schauer Credits are not contractual for any of the films mentioned in this publication. Printing Office ESTA DRUCK GMBH, Obermuehlstrasse 90, 82398 Polling/Germany

© German Films Service + Marketing GmbH Financed by the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. Printed on ecological, unchlorinated paper.

german films quarterly foreign representatives · imprint

4 · 2006 59